Legends That Bleed
by Kiko-Butt
Summary: A good, solid punch to the face has always had the power to change a person's outlook. Kakashi didn't realize this until Gai got him, right in the kisser. He was never going to live this down. Team 7's fate was about to change. Strong Team 7
1. Chapter 1 Knock, Knock

Summary: A good, solid punch to the face has always had the power to change a person's outlook. Kakashi didn't realize this until Gai got him, right in the kisser. He was never going to live this down. Team 7's fate was about to change.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto things would be different. Yep a lot different. So I obviously don't.

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><p>Chapter 1 : Knock Knock<p>

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><p>Umino Iruka smiled down at his students. Another year at the academy had come to a close. The tests were finished and 26 shiny, new hitai-ate were about to begin their journey in the world.<p>

Of course less than half of these students had any real potential. It was a harsh reality, but a majority of the students would not be accepted by their jônin sensei and would be sent back to the academy. This process was to put the civilian council at ease and made it appear as though becoming a shinobi was accessible to those of civilian heritage.

This of course was far from the truth. Iruka estimated that there were usually only two or three civilian-born students every year that made it past the team elimination tests. They were sent back to repeat the final year and without parents pressuring them to continue on the shinobi path most washed out.

Iruka looked out over the students who were settling into their seats. There were probably only two civilian-born in this bunch who had a chance. He caught the shocking head of pink that belonged to Haruno Sakura. She had potential, but no true drive. Yamazaki Isshin was the son of a weapons' maker and had wonderful aim and a natural affinity for taijutsu. But, unfortunately for Isshin the team he was put on definitely would not pass in Iruka's opinion.

Iruka pushed aside these thoughts. He didn't make this system and graduation was a time of celebration. However, there was also bitterness in watching your students move on. For Iruka it was especially difficult to watch a particularly loud blonde go. The veteran teacher was worried about Naruto and had been since he found out just whose team Naruto was being put on. Glancing in his favourite student's direction Iruka hoped that the boy wouldn't be sent back after his jônin sensei's test. Naruto would be impossible if he failed after finally passing the Academy tests and Iruka would have to deal with the fall out. His ears would be ringing for weeks.

The chûnin teacher knew that if the new Team 7 failed, both Naruto and Sakura would be sent back to the Academy. Due to political pressure the Hokage would have to assign Sasuke to either an apprenticeship or find him an older genin team that had lost a member. While Sasuke looked stellar on paper the boy had serious issues to work out. He would not work well on any team he would be placed on. Being apprenticed to some jônin would only increase the boy's isolation from his peers. A shinobi who couldn't work with others was pretty much useless.

Iruka sighed. He had tried to explain this to the Hokage, but the man had completely dismissed Iruka's concerns, which was rather surprising. The Sandaime had always graciously listened to the now veteran teacher's advice despite his young age.

"Alright, alright everyone settle in. We have a lot to get through before we announce the teams so please find a seat and be quiet about it." The students found their seats quickly. Knees bounced and fingers tapped as the room filled with nervous energy.

"Ahhh come on Iruka-sensei can't you just tell us now!" Naruto whined from the fourth row. He seemed to have quickly gotten over whatever embarrassing kerfuffle had occurred between himself and Sasuke moments ago.

"I will announce them when it's time. We still have a few housekeeping issues to take care of before that and we will break for lunch before the jônin sensei arrive as they are currently receiving their ord-" Iruka's explanation was interrupted by a knock at the door. Blinking in surprise the chûnin did not bid entry right away. "Yes," he called after a few more knocks were rapped against the wooden frame.

The door slid open to reveal a man with a rather slouched posture. Iruka's jaw fell open slightly in surprise. He had been warned by the Hokage that Hatake Kakashi was known for being habitually late and would probably not arrive for his genin team well into the afternoon. So, what was the elite jônin doing at the Academy when it wasn't even ten o'clock yet?

"Ah, Hatake-san. We aren't quite ready for you yet," Iruka apologized with a bob of his head.

The jônin didn't seem to hear him as he stepped into the room. His lone eye tracked across the students lazily before coming to settle on the rather flummoxed teacher. The students eyed him back with obvious curiosity, wondering if this was one of the jônin.

Iruka tried again, "Umm, you see, I haven't announced the teams yet and well, the jônin were supposed to meet at the Hokage's office to receive their team assignments and the students' files." Maybe the man had just gotten confused. Iruka had heard that along with his tardiness the man rarely paid attention to the goings on around him. Though Iruka heard some of the stories about this shinobi and his achievements, they didn't really match up with the picture in front of him.

The man merely blinked his solitary eye at him before pulling three light blue files from inside his green flack jacket. "I have my team assignment here, I would prefer to just take them now. I am on a bit of a tight schedule you see. Lots to do today."

Iruka swallowed tightly. Naruto was doomed. "Yes well, let me just…" he shuffled through some papers on his desk in order to cover up his exasperation with this interruption to his schedule. After going over them for three nights straight he knew the team assignments by heart.

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura," Hatake droned, not waiting for Iruka to call the names himself. The teacher grit his teeth and pushed down his annoyance at the jônin's high-handed action. It would not do to be unprofessional in a room full of freshly graduated genin. Technically the jônin outranked him and he didn't have any authority to stop the other shinobi from doing exactly what he pleased.

The kids whose names were called, stared rather stupidly at what they assumed was their jônin sensei. They were too shocked at this rather interesting turn of events to react to their team assignment as expected. "Follow me," the silver haired man commanded in a flat voice. With that the jônin ambled out the door from which he entered.

There was a beat before Sakura, the first one to realize and acknowledge the order scrambled from her seat and with a quick bow to Iruka and left through the same door.

Sasuke followed at a more sedate pace not even acknowledging his ex-sensei as he left the room.

Naruto, who had stood at his spot looked rather torn and a little angry. The jônin might be his new sensei but he was outright rude to Iruka-sensei who was Naruto's favourite person in the world.

"Go on Naruto," Iruka said while shooing the blonde towards the door. Naruto didn't even have time to bid his sensei a last promise that he would become Hokage as he hurried to catch up with his new team.

Iruka sighed as he slid the door close behind his favourite student and turned back to his class. He had a very bad feeling about this.

"No fair! Why does dead-last get his team assignment now?" Inuzuka Kiba's forehead was quickly introduced to projectile chalk.

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><p>Sakura couldn't believe her luck as she kept pace with the rest of Team 7, as they followed their new sensei through the village to an empty training ground. She had gotten on Sasuke-kun's team! The pink haired girl couldn't wait to rub this in Ino-pig's face later. It was a bummer that Naruto, the class idiot had to also be put on the team. How did the boy end up graduating anyway, she wondered.<p>

Naruto was already being a menace as he badgered their new sensei all the way to the training ground. Sakura frowned slightly as she stared up at the odd man. He hadn't introduced himself, just bid them to follow. His appearance was also strange. His silvery grey hair, though he didn't appear old enough to have grey hair, stuck up at an odd angle and he wore his hitai-ate as an eye patch. His face from the bridge of his nose downward was completely covered by a cloth mask. It was a fashion statement Sakura definitely didn't agree with. She idly wondered if he was covering up some grotesque deformity or gruesome scar.

When they had come to the end of their journey the blonde menace tried again to question their sensei. "Are we going on some super-secret mission sensei? Is that why you pulled us out early?" Previous anger at his new sensei forgotten, Naruto was back to his hyper self.

"Stupid, we're new genin we won't get missions above D rank for two months probably," Sakura scolded, flicking her hair over her shoulder. Honestly did Naruto not pay attention to any of their lessons?

Naruto's enthusiasm only died for about a second at being called stupid. "Then why did he call us out here early and he said we had lots to do today?"

Sakura was about to answer when the last Uchiha seemed to lose his patience. "Shut up both of you," he hissed.

Naruto scowled at the black haired boy and Sakura flushed at being harshly spoken to by her crush.

"Are you quite finished with your inane bickering?" their sensei questioned. Though his words were sharp they were delivered in such a relaxed manner that it was difficult to take them seriously.

Sakura pursed her lips but kept quiet. It was really Naruto's fault with his idiotic comments. "Yes sensei," she mumbled, while Naruto continued to scowl.

"Great, because I have much better things to do than teach three fresh brats from the Academy." Sakura blinked as she gaped at the man. That was so rude! Sasuke was not a brat and neither was she. Naruto had obviously already made a bad impression and she and Sasuke were getting painted with the same brush! "Now before we get started let me explain a few things." Naruto looked like he wanted to interrupt again but caught the fierce glare Sakura was sending him and wisely stayed quiet. "This is your new favorite place in Konoha, training ground 13. I have reserved it for the indefinite future so it will be available everyday,twenty-four hours a day."

Sakura cringed before taking a gander around the clearing. She hoped he didn't really mean they were going to be training around the clock. There was a clearing that they were standing in now with a small lake directly in front of them. A young forest surrounded them on all sides with the path that they had just walked interrupting the tree line at their backs. There was a small shed set off to the side of this path.

"The shed is ours to use and store training equipment. You each get a key." Their sensei handed the keys out and Sakura readily accepted hers with excitement. "I of course will be taking them back if…" Their sensei let the word hang for a moment before continuing, "you don't pass my test."

Confusion flooded the poor pink haired girl's mind. Another test. A glance at her teammates showed that they were equally confused.

"But um," Sakura floundered for a moment trying to remember his name. "Hatake-sensei?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh, yes I forgot to introduce myself didn't I? You can all me Kakashi."

"Kakashi-sensei, what is this test for?"

"Well to see if you will be genin of course," their sensei answered in a falsely cheery voice.

Naruto apparently couldn't hold it in any longer. "What do ya mean 'if we will be genin'? We already are genin. We passed the academy test. Look!" The blonde boy pointed emphatically to his hitai-ate.

The jônin made a sweeping gesture with his hands as if to brush away his student's protests. "That is simply a formality to see if you are worth even being assigned to a team. The true genin test is given by the jônin-sensei."

Naruto's shout of dismay could probably be heard across the village and it rang in the others ears rather painfully. "Shut up before I send you back to the Academy with a kunai embedded somewhere you don't want it," cut the rather cold voice of the jônin. This warning was not as laid back as their sensei's earlier scolding. Naruto's mouth snapped shut and Sakura's protests died on her lips. Sasuke continued to glower. "Traditionally the jônin-sensei will give another test. If the team passes this test they officially join Konoha's ranks. If they fail they are all sent back to the Academy for remedial training."

Sakura raised a wavering hand and Kakashi nodded at her. "All of them? This is a group test?"

The masked shinobi nodded down at her with a crinkled eye that somewhat conveyed the fact he was smiling. Somehow that was hardly reassuring. "Yes, all. If one of you fails, all of you fail."

Sakura felt as if her world was collapsing. She had gotten on Sasuke's team. There was no way that this man this weirdly masked man with terrible posture, could take that away. Anger boiled in the petite girl. Well fuck him and fuck his test. 'Bring it!' the strong voice in the back of her mind yelled.

"So what is this test?" Sakura was jerked out of her anger by the voice of her idol. Sasuke was directing a frosty glare at their teacher and looked none too pleased at this upsetting turn of events.

"Yeah we'll take your stupid test!" Naruto cheered.

Kakashi brought a hand to his lips and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, you see I left a package in a tree not too far from here. The tree is to the west of here and very tall, you can't miss it. I want you to retrieve the package in three hour's time."

"That's it?!" Naruto asked incredulously. Sakura frowned as well. It seemed like a ridiculously easy task.

"Yep that's it. Oh and your time started as soon as we got here so you only have about two and a half hours left." There was only a moment of stillness before both Naruto and Sasuke took off towards the west followed by Sakura.

The three genin raced through the woods. Sasuke easily outpaced his two teammates, but it didn't matter because soon they came upon a small clearing with a tree much taller than the rest at the centre. Sakura blinked in surprise at its height and girth. The intelligent girl immediately realized the problem with this so-called easy task, which Naruto generously illustrated as he attempted to scramble up the tree only to slide back down. The tree was massive, taller than those surrounding it and much wider, but the problem was its branches. There were no branches until at least fifity feet up.

Sasuke took a running start and the pink haired genin was sure that the test would soon be finished as he too came back to the ground, defeated by gravity.

"What the hell kind of tree is this?!" Naruto yelled, pulling Sakura's attention back to the blonde. He had taken out a kunai to use as a rudimentary climbing tool, but when he went to stab the tree the kunai could barely chip away at the tree's bark.

Turning back to her crush, Sakura saw that Sasuke's attempts were also meeting the same end. Fear began to trickle down her spine. Surely Sasuke would figure something out. So Sakura stepped back and watched, waiting for him to do something amazing.

The next fifteen minutes were full of Naruto's curses and more failed attempts at climbing the tree. Flopping down near where his female teammate was standing Naruto looked up at the girl. "Sakura-chan you're smart, got any idea?"

Said girl blinked in surprise at being asked, but immediately huffed, "I'm sure Sasuke-kun will figure it out."

Naruto scoffed, "The asshole just keeps doing that stupid fire jutsu, which doesn't do a damn thing."

"Don't call him an asshole you idiot!" Sakura screeched retracting her hand to smack him over the head. The blonde flinched and raised his arm to protect himself, but Sakura stopped mid swing staring at her fist.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"Why did he give us the key?" she whispered.

"What?"

The girl didn't hear him though. The cogs of her mind were whirling too fast to hear anything. There was really no point in giving them the key ahead of time was there? Not if he would have to just take it away when they failed. The only point in giving them the key now was… Sakura's head snapped back in the direction of the training ground from whence they came.

Without pausing to explain her actions to Naruto, Sakura sprinted back towards the clearing and what she believed would be the key to passing this test.

When she arrived back at the clearing their sensei was no longer there, but Sakura did not pause to wonder where he might have gone. Time was wasting. Opening the door quickly Sakura half expected there to be ladder waiting inside, instead there were, "scrolls?" What the hell? How were these going to help?

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><p>Hatake Kakashi watched Haruno from underneath the shade of a tree that he had planted himself under. He wasn't surprised she was the only one to figure out his little gift.<p>

He still wasn't sure if he had made the right choice of designing his own test, instead of using the bell test. But he doubted that these brats would have passed if he had given it to them. There was very little chemistry between them from what he had observed before and now that he had seen them interact in front of him… make that zero chemistry. How had Minato-sensei done it? Rin, Obito and himself couldn't have been this bad.

But, failure was not an option for this team. It was a directive from the Hokage himself. It was time to see if the Uchiha could be moulded into anything or if he was just damaged goods. Sneaking Minato and Kushina's son on the team was emotional blackmail and Kakashi wouldn't forget it anytime soon. The girl was just filler, or that was what he had thought a month ago when he had received their files from the Hokage.

The man had given him the files early with the command that he would not be allowed to fail this team, so he might as well take some time to get to know them. In shinobi speak this meant stalking them.

And stalk them he did. Uchiha and Haruno were boring as hell, but Naruto, he couldn't really keep himself from thinking of the boy as anything but the name Minato-sensei had given him, was always good for a laugh.

What he found after stalking the three pre-teens was surprising. He hadn't been expecting so much potential on one team. It was rough to be sure and they all had some issues and habits that needed to be beaten out of them forcefully, but he could work with it.

The Uchiha brat was a mess with emotional issues, which were noted in his file. His ego was the size of a ripe summer melon thanks to the treatment the instructors had given him in the Academy and it would need to be dealt with. The boy was driven only by his goal of revenge on Itachi, not that Kakashi could really blame him, but that was a can of worms he didn't want to touch anytime soon.

Kakashi had known Itachi when he was in ANBU and there was definitely more to the Uchiha Massacre than the Uchiha prodigy snapping. It stunk of a cover-up.

Sasuke was gifted to be sure and well ahead of his teammates, but anyone in his position would have been. He had been basically tutored since early childhood in the shinobi arts and the Academy teachers had been thrilled to clear up their schedules for the last Uchiha when he asked for one on one attention.

It was clear that Sasuke's biggest obstacle would be learning to work with his teammates. The boy had lived by himself since the age of eight and was completely self-reliant. He would no doubt see his teammates as burdens similarly to how Kakashi had first thought of Rin and Obito. This needed to change and change quickly.

Haruno was a wild card. The Copy-nin wasn't quite sure if she would make it yet. He watched from his shade as she pulled out one of the scrolls that would definitely help her. Clever girl. If she could learn how to tree climb on her own it would prove his estimations of her potential right. Kakashi observed her for a time. The pink haired girl's eyes flicked across the scroll's surface quickly, by this time Naruto had come to stand next to her. She began to talk to him animatedly pointing at the scroll, before both pre-teens rushed back down the path towards the giant tree.

It seemed when she was adequately distracted she didn't mind her blonde teammate either. No doubt she had learned her dislike of Minato's son from villagers and other shinobi children who had learned their own parents. Sighing and pushing aside the resentment that bubbled inside of him Kakashi silently followed his kids into the woods.

Sakura's physical skill was non-existent and she would need the most conditioning out of the three. He planned to teach her a style of taijutsu more suited to the female body as the style taught at the academy fit the male body better. She would basically have to start over. The pink haired girl was smart to be sure. Her academic test scores, which were even higher than the Uchiha's, proved that she could retain and recall information nearly verbatim and seeing how she hadn't spent one minute studying in all the time he observed her it was also effortless.

The one-eyed shinobi continued to watch from the shadows as Sakura went from the tree to the scroll and back again. The girl seemed to completely understand the concept the scroll was explaining as he watched her experiment. First, she didn't apply enough chakra and slid down the bark. After making a trip to the scroll she put only one foot on the tree's surface and her foot was repelled off of it. Kakashi could tell that this had been expected, as the girl was ready to catch herself from falling.

By this time Naruto's excited praise had brought Sasuke over to watch. Finally, Sakura put both feet on the tree and Kakashi knew she had this test in the bag. Three attempts. Not even three really more like a little experimenting and one true attempt. That was all it took her. Kakashi smiled. To tree climb this quickly and make her way up the tree with only a couple of slips… the girl's control must be near perfect. What a welcome surprise.

Naruto excitedly congratulated his teammate when she returned to the ground victorious. Kakashi noticed that Sakura flushed in pleasure from the praise. Sasuke, however pointedly ignored her and Sakura's face fell like clockwork. Her motivation was the main problem. From what he could tell she only had one reason for being here. Sasuke. Her silly, obsessive crush needed to die. The question was would she stick around when it did?

The fact that her family were civilians didn't help the situation. Though well off they weren't incredibly wealthy and traded in textiles it seemed. She had nothing tying her to the shinobi community.

As he walked out to congratulate his team he idly wondered if Sakura knew that her mother had had an affair with a shinobi sometime when she was younger. Her father definitely knew and was using it to emotionally torture his wife. His daughter wanting to become kunoichi was probably a slap in the face to the man. At least father and daughter shared the exact same eye colour so he couldn't question the girl's paternity.

Ah families.

"Well done Sakura-chan!" Kakashi praised clapping his hands.

"So we pass right sensei? Sakura got the package, so we pass!" Naruto declared.

The grey haired shinobi tapped a finger against his clothed chin, "Well, actually that was only the first part of my test." Before Naruto could make their ears bleed Kakashi continued, "The second portion will begin after lunch, there are bentos waiting for you back by the storage shed." The jonin disappeared to eat his own lunch quickly not wanting to deal with their complaints. The next portion of the test would be in Naruto's ballpark. He hoped the boy would live up to his expectations.

Naruto was the living-breathing image of Minato-sensei. It hurt a bit to look at him. Though he might take after his father in looks, so far Naruto was all Kushina before the red haired woman had grown up, from the stories she used to tell about herself.

He was outwardly immature and tended to be whiney. He hadn't seemed to inherit any of his father's intelligence, but he had gotten his mother's propensity for mischief. All the reports on him were filled with vitriol other than his homeroom teacher's. Most of the words that Umino Iruka had written were still not flattering but they at least seemed fair.

The boy was sloppy, but Kakashi had seen that most of the teachers ignored him, so go figure. No one corrected his taijutsu stance. No one stopped to explain most of the elementary ninjutsu. It was clear that he was overloading it on the chakra, something that the instructors should have recognized and addressed.

The boy's chakra capacity and stamina were absolutely ridiculous, but then Kushina's had been as well. She had told him once that both were a result of the Uzumaki bloodline and being jinchûriki. Keeping the demon sealed put constant stress on the container's chakra system and stamina. In a normal shinobi the strain would eventually kill them, but because the Uzumaki clan traits of increased stamina and vitality their systems would adapt rather than break down.

His childish pranks ranged from old school to downright creative bordering on inspirational. His predilection towards painting and his _oiroke no jutsu_ showed extreme attention to visual detail that could be encouraged into something a bit more useful. Kakashi covered a giggle. If the boy ever used that on a certain hermit… the masked shinobi just hoped he would be present if it happened.

Kakashi sighed. Having students was going to be a pain in the ass and would definitely cut into his hobby time. But, if he had to teach them, he was going to damn well teach them.

He gently rubbed his hand over his jaw. The damage Gai's fist had dealt months ago was healed, but the memory of the pain and the clarity it brought remained.

_He hadn't been day dreaming about a certain book, or planning his next excuse for being late. He hadn't been staring up at the clouds momentarily distracted by a formation that looked like the chest of a certain irritable blonde or caught in a more unpleasant memory. No, he had been completely focused on the task at hand. _

_So, when Gai's fist was rather brutally introduced to his face, Kakashi had a moment of reflection as he lay on the ground, his head ringing from the blow and no will to stagger to his feet. He had gotten soft. Not just post ANBU soft, but really soft, softer than a newly graduated genin soft. Well, that might be exaggerating it a bit, but damn did it sting that one single punch from Gai was all it took to knock him flat on his ass._

"_Kakashi!" the Beast cried. Damn. Gai wasn't even gloating. There was serious concern in his voice. Kakashi pressed both his eyes closed with a gloved hand. The j_ô_nin truly did not wish to see his friend's concerned face. It would only make the sting of the humiliation that much sharper. Keeping his eyes closed he readjusted his hitai-ate so it once again covered the Sharingan. The eye had seen the punch coming, but his body had not been able to react quickly enough. It was like when he had first received the eye. Obito… what would you say now?_

_The silvered haired scarecrow held up an arm and was pulled to a sitting position a moment later by his friend. The taijutsu master sat down next to him on the ground. "So…" Gai started. _

"_You don't have to say anything. I know," Kakashi said with a sigh. "I've gotten soft."_

"_It's nothing to be ashamed of Kakashi. We all do eventually." Kakashi let his head fall back. There was nothing worse than a serious and empathetic Gai. Gai's empathy held him back in the shinobi world, as he was not able to take on certain missions with his strict moral code, but it made him a very good friend. ANBU would have destroyed Gai, and the taijutsu master knew it. He therefore had never pursued an ANBU position. Some had the audacity to think him weak because of it._

_But, the bowl headed j_ô_nin had always been there to drag Kakashi out of whatever self-imposed hell he put himself in after a particularly bad mission. Even when Kakashi tore him apart verbally in a drunken stupor Gai never let him sink into the dark abyss that ANBU dragged many a shinobi. And it was Gai who helped him adjust when he finally decided to leave ANBU._

_Kakashi owed Gai more than anyone knew, including the Green Beast himself. Now it seemed he owed him again. He clenched his fist in the grass. This softness had to go. _

_It wasn't just a matter of pride, but also necessity. For a while now he had noticed that something was amiss. There was a charge in the air outside the village. It was a tension, a smell almost, that he knew well. His body might have grown soft in his ANBU retirement but old habits die-hard. Kakashi had kept his ear to the ground. A storm was brewing. Konoha would not be ready for it when it hit._

_Most believed that once the Copy Ninja left ANBU and allowed himself to fade almost to the point of obscurity, that he had stopped paying attention. His mannerisms certainly had encouraged this train of thought. Kakashi had watched in the shadows as the Village Council steadily chipped away at the Hokage's power. He watched as ANBU's funding slowly dropped to an all time low. The number of competent j_ô_nin was also incredibly low, with more and more special j_ô_nin, who were admittedly skilled at their area of expertise, but lacked the all around power of a full-fledged j_ô_nin._

_Konoha had become a target, a lamb ready for slaughter. And there were wolves not only at the gates of the village, but sleeping inside the walls._

_Staggering slightly to his feet, he looked down at his comrade, "Again."_

_Kakashi was going to make damn sure he was ready for when the wolves came._

Thinking back on it Kakashi couldn't help the way his body tensed at even the thought. Yes. He was going to be ready, and so were his students.

If Naruto turned out to be anything like his father or mother, he would be in the thick of things. Sasuke would probably be caught up in the mess too and had a good chance of ending bloody like the rest of his family. Sakura, if she was worth anything after he had trained her would follow both of them into the depths of hell.

It was how a team should be.

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><p>Sasuke dropped to the ground with his bento a little ways away from his two teammates and tried to push the anger and frustration he felt down enough to eat. He couldn't believe the stupid fan girl had figured out the test and not him. It was unacceptable. Tearing into his food he tried to block out his two teammates.<p>

Teammates. How terrible was his luck? He got the dead last and one of his fan girls. He would have taken the blonde one over Haruno. At least she was from a shinobi family. Why couldn't he have gotten the Aburame and the Nara? They were at least intelligent. The Nara was lazy as hell, but an undeniable genius.

"What do you think the next test will be?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn't respond as the others deliberated between themselves.

"What do you think Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

The girl got a glare in response and Sasuke had to repress a smirk at her flinch.

"Oi, you don't have to be such a bastard all the time!" Naruto protested through a mouthful of rice. Sasuke sneered at his manners in disgust.

"He isn't a bastard you idiot!" Sakura shrieked, smacking Naruto across the head, causing the blonde to choke.

Idiots. Turning away as the two began to bicker, Sasuke returned to eating his lunch. All three of them finished after not much longer. Their sensei still hadn't returned.

The ripping of paper pulled the black haired boy's attention to the dead last. The other boy had ripped open the package that Sakura had retrieved from the top of the tree. Pulling away the paper the blonde revealed the package was a small scroll.

"Do you think anything is written on it?" Sasuke huffed at Naruto's idiotic question. What else did the dumb blonde think one did with scrolls?

"Kakashi-sensei said that he would give us our next task when we finished lunch. I don't think we should open it. He probably will come back and want it." Sakura said. There was hesitation in her words. Sasuke wondered if she was thinking similarly to himself. If they had to retrieve the scroll from the tree for the first task, why had the jônin left it behind with them?

"Pfft lets just take a peak." Sakura made a noise of complaint and tried to swipe the scroll from Naruto before he could crack it open. Naruto tried to dodge her swipe and the scroll slipped from his fingers and landed in front of Sasuke, who unceremoniously picked it up, cracked the seal and unrolled it.

He blinked at its contents as the other two held their breath. His jaw ticked as he silently held the scroll out for them to read.

Sakura snatched it from his grasp and read aloud "To my cute little students, your next mission, or test if you prefer, is to obtain a particular package from the Library of Records. You have until two o'clock to complete this objective. You must not be caught. Return to this training ground when you have completed your task. Failure means being sent back to the Academy." A winky face and the location of the package they were supposed to retrieve finished the message.

"It's already half past noon!" Naruto yelled, rocketing to his feat and upsetting his bento in the process.

"Watch it idiot!" Sasuke growled as the blonde's lunch nearly spilled onto his lap. Naruto was about to respond violently when Sakura came between them.

"We don't have time for this. The location of the package is in one of the off limits rooms in the Library of Records. Only chûnin and up with special permission can get in."

"So we steal it," Sasuke grunted, the answer being rather obvious. Idiots the both of them.

Sakura let out a scandalized gasp, "But, we can't steal from our own village, if we're caught we could get in serious trouble."

"Don't worry Sakura-chan we're not going to get caught. Besides, this is a test even if we do I'm sure Kakashi-sensei can bail us out." As soon as the words left his mouth though Naruto felt a seed of doubt creep into his mind.

"I won't get caught," Sasuke said arrogantly. Uchiha's don't get caught he added in his mind.

"Oh and I suppose you think we can just waltz in there and take it," Naruto laughed sarcastically. "Whose the idiot now? Those rooms are guarded and booby trapped with anti-theft seals."

"How do you know that?" Sakura asked slightly surprised by the loudmouth's knowledge.

Naruto shrugged, "Wanted to see if there was anything good in there for a prank but the Records area is just full of boring books, ledgers and old junk."

"You've been in the off limits rooms before?" asked Sasuke skepticism dripping from every word.

Naruto glared at the obvious disbelief, "Think what you want asshole, but we need to get into that room or we're all going back to the Academy and we're going to need a plan to do it."

"Ok, Ok," Sakura said putting her hands up to stop what seemed to be another imminent fight. She bit her lip not believing she was going to say this but they didn't really have a choice, time was short. They had little over an hour and a half to obtain the package and get back. She had the amazing luck to be put on Sasuke's team this time around she highly doubted it would happen again if she were sent back to the Academy. "Naruto, what should we do?"

Naruto blinked, surprised that his crush was asking his advice but he quickly recovered. "Well," he started, running a hand through his spiky blonde hair, "we're actually pretty lucky. The room that our package is in isn't on the level that is heavily guarded. There should actually only be a single chûnin librarian in that section. But, there will be alarm seals on the entrance-way to the room. When an unauthorized chakra signature passes through, the alarm goes off, activating a seal at the librarian's workstation as well as building security."

As he explained the security system he failed to notice the complete and utter surprise colouring both his teammates' faces. Sasuke was having a hard time believing Naruto's information to be accurate, but the other boy seemed to know what he was talking about.

Sakura pulled out of her astonishment to point out a problem. "But the seal can't be keyed to recognize all the chûnin and jônin in the village."

"It isn't," Naruto answered. "The floor librarian keeps wooden togs that have seals that give off the correct chakra signature. You have to check in with them and get one of the togs before entering the room. When the tog crosses the room's seal it's recognized and other chakra signatures are allowed to pass through without setting the alarm off."

"So what we really need to do is get a hold of one of those togs," Sasuke finished, somewhat impressed with the blonde though he would never admit it. Sasuke also realized that this knowledge had probably been acquired by causing mayhem.

"How are we going to get the tog?" the only female of Team 7 asked. She felt it was pretty hopeless. The librarian would never give them one since they were only genin and stealing a tog didn't sound any easier than breaking into the room itself.

Both his teammates felt a slight shiver run down their spines as Naruto's face split into a mischievous grin. "I can think of a thing or two that might get us one."

* * *

><p>Naruto took a breath as he prepared to begin the first phase of his plan. He had been having a whirlwind of a week. First he had failed the Academy test. Again. Then he had been tricked into stealing a forbidden scroll and found out that Mizuk-sensei, that bastard, was a traitor and inadvertently graduated to become a genin. Which was negated when he later found out from that asshole, who was supposed to be their sensei that they weren't really genin.<p>

During the encounter with Mizuki he had also finally been told the reason why everyone in the village seemed to hate him.

The demon that nearly obliterated Konoha over a decade ago and killed the Fourth Hokage in the process was sealed inside him. Well now things started to make a bit more sense. When he sat down to think about it though, he wondered why the villagers were outright hostile. Everyone called him stupid, but being downright cruel and even physically violent to someone that you thought was demon, who had slaughtered hundreds of your people didn't seem very smart.

In the slightly uncharitable vein of that thought, Naruto came to the conclusion that people were idiots. He wasn't a demon. If he was he definitely would have snapped and at the very least killed those assholes that had set his apartment on fire, while he was still inside, when he was eight freaking years old.

The revelation of the reason behind everyone's hatred had caused him to lose a bit of faith in the one person he had always looked up to. Why hadn't the old man told him? Why hadn't he done anything to protect Naruto from the uncalled for malice? Keeping it a secret had obviously done very little to deter people's hostilities. The new generation, his classmates had simply learned the behaviour and attitude from their parents. It would be better if they at least had a reason to act that way.

To be fair some of his classmates weren't like that. Shikamaru and Chôji had always been decent to him and could even be talked into a prank or two. Shino was a loner but was always polite. Dog breath had no manners, but didn't treat him any differently than anyone else. There was also that one girl who barely spoke to him, but Naruto wasn't even sure if she could speak.

Sakura-chan had always dismissed him, but that was the bastard's fault. Now, though that was changing. Sakura-chan had actually asked for his opinion on something. Even the bastard agreed to go along with his little plan. He hadn't know really what to think when he had been placed with them. Naruto had been ecstatic to be with Sakura-chan, but that was completely overshadowed by his third teammate's presence.

Shaking himself from his reflection Naruto forced his mind to focus. It was really difficult sometimes. Sakura-chan had gotten them through the first test. This test hinged all on his plan and he needed to pay attention. He wasn't going to fail Sakura-chan and he sure as hell wasn't going back to the Academy. The blonde counted down in his head. His timing needed to be perfect once the bastard played his part.

It was too bad they had to make sure they weren't caught. He had to go with some of his least potent explosive tags. The stronger ones he had altered himself made a much more satisfying bang.

* * *

><p>Kakashi watched as his young students dashed back into the training ground clearing. They were sweaty and in both Naruto's and the Uchiha's case slightly singed but they were on time. Ten minutes early in fact, which was like being hours early in Kakashi's book.<p>

"Ah my students, you made it! Did you get my package?" He was only slightly surprised when it was once again Sakura that held up the package and handed it to him.

"So we passed right?" Naruto asked again, this time not quite so confident that their trial was over. Kakashi didn't acknowledge him though. He carefully peeled back the protective brown paper covering to reveal a beautiful vibrant orange book underneath.

His single eye widened in excitement. The rumours had been true. Kakashi repressed a giggle of delight as he pulled the paper off to reveal a first edition of _Icha Icha Paradise_. Five extra full colour art pages and a sneak peak at the next novel. The best part…it was all his. To think he had been sitting on this treasure, not knowing it was within his own village. He would have to find a way to repay Genma. The man's information had been accurate.

"Wait, we risked our necks for a porn book!" an annoyingly loud voice that was beginning to become all too familiar cried. The silver haired jônin's attention was rudely ripped back to his students. The Uchiha glowered at him and his fingers twitched slightly as if itching to wrap around a kunai and do some damage. Haruno was turning beet red and her eyes snapped with fire. Naruto on the other hand looked torn between crying out in anger again and laughing at the entire situation.

"Not just any porn book my ducklings, first edition porn," the jônin corrected patting the book with a loving hand.

"That doesn't matter you pervert! We could have been stripped of our hitai-ate if we had gotten caught, or worse be branded traitors!" Sakura yelled. Well, so much for being the polite one. The anger was now taking over and Kakashi was a bit afraid if her face got any redder her head might burst.

"Now, now lets not get carried away. You make it sound like you actually have any right to wear that hitai-ate to begin with." There was a chill to Kakashi's voice that made his students pause. "Did you have fun playing shinobi today?" They all looked slightly flabbergasted at this question. It was quite an amusing look to see on the sullen Uchiha. "Because that was just a taste of what you will actually do for a living."

"Whad'ya mean sensei?" Naruto asked with trepidation. The genin was getting whiplash at his sensei's continuously changing attitude. One minute the man was laid back to the point of apathy and the next he could make even the stoic asshole look concerned.

"Next time you're asked to steal something or obtain information it won't be in a safe environment. Getting caught won't earn you a slap on the wrist or a half-hearted scolding. If you're lucky it will mean a quick death. If you're not lucky it could mean spilling your guts both literally and figuratively in a slow and painful way." A shiver passed through the genin at the very obvious allusion to torture. "When you fall there might not be someone there to catch you. The good news is you will very rarely be alone."

The three genin looked at each other. Kakashi nodded. "Sasuke," the jônin addressed, causing the boy's head to snap up to meet his gaze, "though you might have figured out in the end a way to get that scroll, you wouldn't have succeeded in the time limit." The boy grimaced and his pride pulled at him to deny the statement. "Sakura, without the information and plan Naruto provided you would have never been able to retrieve this book from the Library." Sakura flushed but nodded. "Naruto, though you came up with the plan you would have never gotten off scot-free without the help of both Sasuke and Sakura."

"Yeah we kicked ass together! I've never had a prank go off so well and get away with it!" Naruto exclaimed. A smile lit Sakura's lips at this and something clicked in her mind. Sasuke scoffed but inwardly couldn't help but admit the overactive blonde was right. Together they had pulled it off quite seamlessly.

Kakashi chuckled at the blonde's statement. Maybe they could learn to be a team after all. "Before we begin the last phase of my test," cries of indignation fell on deaf ears, "I want you to think about something. What does it truly mean to be shinobi, what do shinobi truly do?"

"Kick all kinds of ass!" The blonde's mouth was really going to get him into trouble some day.

"Shinobi lie cheat steal and kill," Sakura mumbled. After she had said it she slapped her hand over her mouth, as if she couldn't believe she had let the words slip out.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried in dismay at the rather grim outlook on their chosen career.

However, their sensei nodded at the girl's simple and accurate answer. "That is correct, and we do it all for anyone with the right amount of money." Kakashi reached out and solidly rapped the blonde's skull. "Get all of those foolish romantic notions out of your head." Naruto scowled up at his teacher and rubbed at the abused spot. "Now I will teach you to do it all. I will teach how to become competent shinobi that are worthy of wearing the symbol of Konoha. It," he touched the symbol on his own hitai-ate, "is the only honour you have. A shinobi's honour comes from his or her loyalty to the village, and it's Hokage."

He looked at them all sternly in turn. "As your sensei I promise to do my utmost to help you become the shinobi you ought to be. I will push your bodies to the edge and then I will throw you over the cliff," Kakashi paused, wondering if they realized he was being absolutely literal. It was important to know what to do when you toppled off a cliff. "I will make you strong." Kakashi noted Sasuke's almost thirsty look at this. "If you don't think that is something you want, leave now." None of them moved, but a sharp grey eye caught a waver in Sakura before she set her jaw and stood tall. Kakashi smirked. Is this what it felt like to be proud of a student? "All that I ask in return is that you remember your loyalty to Konoha, the Hokage and to each other." He let this sink in for a moment before returning to his slouched posture and crinkling his eye. "But before we get to that you have to pass my final test."

Putting some distance between himself and his students, Kakashi tossed them all a single kunai. "You have to make me bleed before the sun sets."

His students all looked down at the kunai in their hands having varied reactions to his words. Sakura's knees were shaking. Naruto looked slightly disturbed. Sasuke was smirking. This test was finally in his wheelhouse.

Kakashi watched them as they found their resolve. Naruto nodded to himself and caught Sasuke's eye. Sakura gripped her kunai tighter and looked toward both her teammates for direction. They understood. His previous lessons seemed to have sunk in for the moment.

The jônin smirked under his mask while bringing his new Icha Icha book out of his back pocket. Let the games begin.

* * *

><p>AN: Let me start off by saying I love strong team 7 fics. I have read a lot of them and they inspire me. I am not a great writer, but I was tired of this sitting on my computer.

So whether it is awful or enjoyable it is now out.

I was pushed to post this after watching the most recent Naruto movie. I watched it only in Japanese so I got only about 60-70% of the story, but I absolutely hated it. I also hate how most of the characters' stories ended.

So that was my best effort on our four main characters. The characters are going to be a bit off from their original selves. Kakashi, for example is motivated. Naruto is disillusioned because my version of him is not a complete idiot. Sakura will be more heavily affected by her family situation. Sasuke while hell bent on killing Itachi and arrogant as ever but will not be quite as mmmm how should I put it, unyielding. He is still a twelve-year-old kid. They all are even if their society views them as adults.

I apologize for any typos and not knowing how to use commas.

Leave a comment tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 2 The Devil at the Door

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, this is just to occupy my time.

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: The Devil at the Door<p>

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't think he had ever been so tired. He collapsed a couple feet away from his teammates who weren't in much better shape.<p>

Every part of his body throbbed for mercy. He had long since stripped out of the top of his orange jumpsuit, tying it around his waist. His black undershirt was drenched in sweat and with the moderate breeze it did wonders to cool his overheated body.

Their slave driver was just sitting there, chewing on one of his paws as if he hadn't a care in the world. Monster. "You kids tired already?" The casualness of the question taunted all of them. Well, perhaps not Sakura. Naruto looked over see that the girl had definitely lost consciousness. He would be more concerned if he had the energy for it. "It isn't even nine o'clock yet. We still have more time for fun." Rage took energy. Even the bastard couldn't muster a glare.

Team 7 had arrived at Training Ground 13 at the ungodly hour of six o'clock in the morning, as they had been bid the night before by their teacher. Bruised and aching from the brutal final test the previous day none of them were in a good mood. Not even Naruto.

Any illusion that he had any skill what-so-ever had been agonizingly crushed by Kakashi. The man made it glaringly clear that he was far and above them. They were flies, no maggots, wriggling around helplessly and their teacher was a spider with a playful streak. It was humiliating. Kakashi had also showed that he wasn't going to treat them like children. Though Naruto had no doubt the man held back quite a bit, Kakashi never pulled a punch completely. The first time he caught Naruto in the stomach the blonde boy nearly vomited his internal organs. It hurt like nothing he had ever felt before.

The Academy instructors had never been so rough and had never allowed them to be so rough with each other. Sure there was the occasional accident when training with kunai and shuriken for the first time that sent one or two clumsy students to the hospital, but even during spars students were monitored closely so they wouldn't seriously injure each other.

At one point during the test Naruto truly believed that they were going to fail. It seemed like an impossible task. But after coming to his feet after Kakashi's sandal firmly planted itself in his back for what felt like the thousandth time Naruto had a stroke of inspiration. When only a few rays of sunlight were left on the horizon Naruto had directed Sasuke to put everything into his fire jutsu to give himself and Sakura a chance to come up with a final plan.

It worked. The trap, which was a simple explosion tag Naruto had modified with some wind oriented seals wrapped around Sakura's entire supply of unused senbon caused their sensei to falter as he dodged and Sasuke took the opportunity to send a barrage of kunai at the off balance jônin. A miniscule cut on their teacher's leg was all they got for their efforts. But there was blood.

The rush of fulfillment and pride that filled his aching body had felt sweeter than a bellyful of the best ramen in town. When he turned to both his teammates they had similar looks of absolute triumph on their faces. Sakura's smile, though slightly obscured by a busted lip, was gleeful. Even the bastard was smiling, not a smirk but a true smile, though it didn't reach the proportions of Sakura's or his own.

Kakashi had smiled down at them or what Naruto assumed a smile looked like on his masked face. His appearance was frustratingly unrumpled compared to their own, but he looked…proud. It was odd for Naruto. Other than Iruka-sensei he didn't think anyone had ever been proud of him. Their team leader congratulated them and then advised them to go home, eat, clean up and then go straight to bed as the very next day they would begin conditioning. The three had heeded the advice without further prompting.

If only they knew the hell that they were in for the next morning. Team 7 had been very surprised when it was not their teacher that awaited them at the training ground but a small pug dressed in a similar fashion to the absent man.

"Yo," the pug said with a wave of his paw. After the genin had gotten over their shock at having a dog speak to them the pug continued to explain his presence. "I'm Pakkun, one of Kakashi's ninken. The Boss will be late this morning so he sent me to get you all started on your conditioning." Both Sakura and Sasuke still sporting bruises from the previous day's trials frowned at this.

"Is he on some top secret mission?" asked Naruto excitedly. After all, last night had proved that their new teacher was super strong. It would make sense that he would be used for high-ranked, important missions. Sasuke scoffed at Naruto's guess while Sakura just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, no," Pakkun answered. "More like he is off giggling somewhere reading his dirty book which means I get the far from pleasurable activity of whipping you brats into fighting shape. Kakashi is going to owe me more than a couple belly rubs and treats for this."

Foolishly, and now Naruto looked back on this moment with regret, he had laughed and remarked with disbelief how an ugly mutt was going to train them. Not much later he found out just how sharp the little bastard's teeth were. Soon after an entire pack of dogs exploded from the trees and barreled towards the genin, all baring sharp teeth that promised pain.

What followed was three terrifying hours of running, hiding, being found, and being bitten. Finally the dogs seemed to grow tired of the game, as they called it and poofed out of existence, not before telling Pakkun to make sure that their boss made good on his promise.

"I never thought that Kakashi would take on a team of pups. Could have picked a team that smelled better though… Oh wait that's my shampoo." The pug was sniffing around Sakura's unconscious head.

"You don't smell like roses either mutt!" Naruto shot back. A cry of pain followed as Pakkun decided he deserved one last bite for the comment.

"Idiot," Sasuke coughed, rolling onto his side and then up into a sitting position.

"Ohhh, what's this?" a voice from the left side of Naruto asked. The blonde's head snapped around to take in the man that had put them in this hell.

"You!" the blonde spluttered.

Kakashi pointed at himself and attempted to look innocent.

"You're late!" Naruto had been trying to shout, but after spending all morning screaming whenever one of the dogs had sunk their teeth into his flesh it came out as more of a hoarse squeal.

"Oh sorry about that, I had to help this group of kids get their cat out of a tree."

"Liar," called a weak voice. Naruto glanced to see Sakura's one good eye open. The poor girl had run smack dab into a tree while trying to get away from that particularly vicious Akita.

"Maaa, you wound my virtue Sakura-chan," the silver haired shinobi actually managed to look wounded.

The figure lying in the grass only managed to whimper an unintelligible response, but Naruto thought it sounded something like asshole.

"Well I think that is enough conditioning for today don't you?" Five eyes glared hatefully at their teacher in response. "On to taijutsu!" Naruto gulped at the near gleeful tone of Kakashi's voice.

* * *

><p>Sakura carefully applied the cream that Kakashi had given her for her eye. Kakashi had split them up after the morning conditioning exercises to work with them individually on their taijutsu. Naruto was up first with the demon. The jônin had instructed Sakura to give Sasuke a lesson in tree climbing in the mean time.<p>

Her right eye was swollen nearly shut and throbbing. Kakashi-sensei had taken pity and given her a cream that was supposed to reduce the swelling so she could see better. Sakura only allowed herself a moment of hurt at the thought of Sasuke seeing her face half covered in the not so nice smelling brown gunk before asking for help. She turned to Sasuke, "Did I get it all covered?"

Sasuke who seemed wholly unaffected by her appearance merely grunted before starting off towards the trees. Sakura groaned inwardly at what her parents would say when they saw her tonight. Last night had been bad enough. Her father had ranted at her mother for hours when he had come home to his daughters bruised and battered appearance.

Her dad hadn't seemed to care one bit about Sakura joining the Academy but he was not at all supportive of her becoming a genin. It was a year ago or so that her father's tune had changed and Sakura still didn't understand why.

Her mom however was supportive and proud. Sakura clung to her mother's approval. When she had returned home the night before her mother had taken her upstairs and helped her clean every cut and ran a hot bath for her. She listened attentively as Sakura described the different trials that their new teacher had put them through.

Sakura smiled when she thought of how her mother had voiced her pride in Sakura's intelligence.

The pink haired girl watched as Sasuke attempted to climb up the tree as she had the day before without any success. Irritation brought a little heat to her cheeks. Kakashi-sensei had told them that Sakura was supposed to teach Sasuke, but the black haired boy clearly didn't feel he needed any help. A spiteful voice cheered in her mind as she watched Sasuke slide down the trunk again.

Pushing back her spite Sakura approached her crush. This was the perfect opportunity to show Sasuke she was worthy of his attention.

"Umm Sasuke-kun?" she tried. Her voice came out pitifully small. Damn it.

The boy stiffened before slowly turning around to glare at her. Sakura inwardly glowered. There was no reason for him to glare at her. She was trying to help him. "You should focus your energy first and try to find the right amount."

The boy looked like he was about to turn around and ignore her advice completely.

"Look," she huffed, finally out of patience. The girl stomped up to the tree. "You have to feel out the right amount of chakra to push into your feet. Too little and your feet will just slide off, too much and they will be pushed off and you will damage the surface of the tree." She demonstrated, without checking to see if Sasuke was following along or not. "Once you know the right amount, you have to maintain this constantly or you will slip and fall." Finally, once she had walked up the tree and come to sit on one of the thick branches she allowed herself to glance at Sasuke.

The boy at least wasn't glaring at her but he certainly didn't seem very grateful. Without a word he turned back to his own tree. Sakura heart plummeted, so much for gaining his attention. She watched as he did exactly as she bid, but didn't offer any gratitude.

What was the point of being on his team if he continued to ignore her just like in the Academy, she wondered morosely.

Sakura looked upwards at the tree she was sitting in. She might as well climb some more.

* * *

><p>Naruto groaned as he pulled himself from the dirt again. "Don't just fly at me and expect to land a punch," Kakashi reprimanded once again. "You don't use any discernible technique; your movements are sloppy and wasteful."<p>

The blonde grit his teeth at the criticism. He wanted to scream in frustration. Naruto knew very well that his taijutsu left much to be desired. He knew his form was terrible. The academy teachers barely spared him a glance much less gave him any instruction. Everything he knew he had learned from watching others, which left his style disjointed and more fit for a drunken brawl than a taijutsu showdown.

Kakashi sighed and dragged his palm down his face, "We're going to have to start all over with you." At this Naruto did cry out in frustration and with a surprising amount of energy flew at his teacher in a fury only to be caught easily. "Now, now no need to be so upset. It isn't like it's a great loss." Tossing the blond away the jônin smoothly flipped open a scroll and unsealed its contents. A wooden dummy poofed into existence beside him. "Naruto, meet your new best friend."

The blonde simply glared at his teacher. "Now," Kakashi began, pulling a larger scroll from nowhere. "This is a different style of taijutsu than you learned in the academy. It's focus is on more powerful strikes that ninjutsu can easily be incorporated into. But it requires more endurance since you are much more likely to be hit than an evasive style." All the rage drained out of the genin as he listened to his teacher's explanation. "I will help you through the basic stances and strikes, but after it's up to you to learn from this scroll." He tossed the scroll to Naruto who almost toppled over from its unexpected weight. The blonde clutched the scroll as a small bud of hope grew in him. Did this mean that Kakashi wasn't going to ignore him? He brushed the thought away as quickly as it had come. The jônin might be trying to sucker him in before turning cold like so many in the past had done.

Naruto quickly fell into place behind his teacher as he showed him the basic form. Even if this attention from his teacher was fleeting he would soak up everything he could before Kakashi turned all his focus on the bastard as every teacher Naruto had, had before did.

Kakashi worked with Naruto for nearly an hour and a half. The blonde was about to burst form just how slow it had all been. He knew he needed to pay attention and when his mind wandered the jônin always seemed to know and gave him a painful rap for it. Kakashi finally called it quits when Naruto had completely run through all of the basic strikes, moving haltingly from one stance to another.

"Right send over Sakura and learn tree walking from Sasuke." Without so much as a good job Kakashi sent him off. Grumbling at the thought of Sasuke teaching him anything Naruto was glad he had paid attention to Sakura's rambling the day before when she had figured out how to tree walk.

He had a pretty good idea of what he needed to do but the execution was going to be the problem. If his taijutsu was bad his chakra control was abysmal. The blonde at least now knew why his control was so bad. He had an overwhelming amount of chakra therefore it was difficult to control. It made so much sense.

From what he had read, the shadow clone technique took nearly three times the amount of chakra of a normal clone as they were solid. Also after the clone was created the creator's chakra would be distributed between the clones. Naruto estimated that he had made about a hundred clones the night he fought Mizuki. He had also just learned the technique and was tired from experimenting with it.

This led him to the conclusion that his chakra reserves must be massive and he was awesome. Freaking awesome.

Unfortunately, massive reserves also meant his control was absolute shit. He had learned from watching Sakura that this technique was all about control. The blonde stopped a ways away from the tree that Sakura was in.

"Oi Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei is ready for you." The girl trotted down the trunk of her tree a ways before dropping to the ground. Naruto nearly flinched when he caught sight of her face. There was brown goop caked on one side of her face and it was cracked and flaking off. Not in the least bit attractive. Sakura nodded to him as she passed causing more of the brown stuff to peal off, revealing the now multi-coloured skin beneath. At least the swelling around her eye had gone down.

Sasuke dropped from his tree as well, glaring at the girl as she walked towards their teacher. Naruto wondered if he should tell Sasuke what Kakashi had asked him to do. Seeing the sneer on the black haired boy's face Naruto decided to keep it to himself. He doubted the bastard would have helped him anyhow.

If he ended up having that much trouble he would just ask Sakura later.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was unsurprisingly angry. He had been last to get private instruction from Kakashi and had spent nearly two and a half hours doing nothing but tree climbing. He was embarrassingly tired from it too. He had watched out of the corner of his eye as both Naruto and Sakura were brought back to basics in their one on one instruction. The Uchiha snorted inwardly at this, both their taijutsu was appalling. Naruto's was hideously sloppy though the idiot somehow made it effective at times. Sakura's form was near perfect, but she was slow and so weak any hit she managed to land barely made an impact.<p>

From the looks of it the jônin was teaching both Naruto and Sakura different forms.

Kakashi better not make him go back to the beginning like that. He didn't need it. He had graduated at the top of his class and had even beaten some of the previous year's genin in taijutsu when they had combined sparring classes. Sasuke proudly used the Uchiha family style though he was more than competent in the basic academy form as well.

He watched as Sakura was finally dismissed by their teacher and quickly pretended to be focusing at his task at hand.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura called breathily, not yet having recovered from her training, "Kakashi-sensei is ready for you." Without a word to his teammate Sasuke dropped down to the ground and made his way over to his teacher.

"Ahh Sasuke-kun!" The black-haired boy flinched at the jovial voice of their teacher. "Now I know you use the Uchiha taijutsu style correct?"

Sasuke nodded warily mouth set in a hard line. He wasn't going to change.

"Good, good, and I know you use it fairly well." Sasuke grimaced at the comment. Fairly well?! "But you are lacking somewhat in the speed department and as you do not have the sharingan yet I think some modifications are in order."

The boy's right eye began to twitch slightly from his anger. "Now, as you no doubt know being an Uchiha, the style that your family favors limits movement and power so as to keep eye contact with their opponent, but again as you haven't awakened your eyes there really isn't any need for this." That was it, Sasuke was going to kill his teacher. "So for today I think we will work on dodging!" Before the genin could fully register the gleeful look on his teacher's mostly covered face, projectiles were flying at him.

Not able to dodge all of them Sasuke winced as a shuriken cut a line across his left cheek. "Oh dear, you better be faster than that or else your face won't be quite so cute anymore." The black haired boy didn't have time to fill with dread as more objects were thrown at him.

What the hell did this have to do with taijutsu? Sasuke ducked and weaved and dodged, but he was never quite able to evade all of pointy projectiles and soon he was covered in tiny scratches. This continued for more than half an hour. Sasuke barely noticed when the barrage stopped coming. He was panting and his clothes were soaked in sweat. He met his teacher's eyes, well eye.

"Learned anything yet?"

The question met with a glare.

"No? Well let's continue!" Sasuke inwardly flinched at the delight in those words. What was he exactly supposed to be learning? He winced as a shuriken cut across his back and sucked in his breath as a kunai he hadn't seen coming passed by his chest as he twisted when he felt it near him.

Sasuke blinked. Felt it? More implements were thrown at him faster than the eye could see, but Sasuke could feel their approach and his body moved minutely to avoid them. He knew from the past thirty minutes that if he moved too much or left the ground too often Kakashi would throw something unavoidable to catch him.

Interesting. He didn't even need to see Kakashi throw anymore to know where kunai or shuriken would be. Senbon however were much more difficult to predict and sense coming. He bit back a cry as an especially long one sunk into his calf.

Grudgingly Sasuke realized he was learning.

* * *

><p>Kakashi sighed as he sank into his favourite booth at the quiet little out of the way restaurant he frequented for lunch. He ordered his usual melon soda as he looked over the menu that never changed. His cute little students weren't so cute after their two days of exposure to his teaching methods. He had let them go for lunch telling them they would continue taijutsu practice when they returned from the break.<p>

Naruto sported a nasty lump on his head, Sakura looked exceptionally dreadful and Sasuke was ragged, bloody and bruised after his lesson in dodging. Their moods were dark as well. Kakashi had the fleeting idea to give them words of encouragement at the end of the day, but thought better of it. It wasn't really his style. He would simply remind his students that there was no progress without sacrifice, that sacrifice being pain.

And there was progress though he doubted his genin could see it yet. Naruto showed that he was a very quick learner when given even a smidgen of attention. The boy soaked up the new style and showed a surprising amount of awareness of his own body. After being corrected several times on his positioning the boy everyone thought was an idiot corrected himself when he slipped out of place.

Sakura though bruised and bloody refused to break down after a nasty hit from him. She also showed a surprising amount of grace when introduced to the new style he had chosen for her. The style was evasive, focusing on dancing around the opponent, utilizing flexibility and speed to land precise strikes. It was ideal for a kunoichi that was on the more petite side, and could easily be combined with simple and effective genjutsu that he planned on teaching the girl.

Sasuke was of course competent when it came to tajutsu. He had no doubt been trained since early childhood in the style and had access to some of his family's scrolls. He also, from what Kakashi saw had Academy teacher's falling over themselves for the opportunity to help the last Uchiha. That arrogance was going to get him killed, which was why Kakashi took every opportunity to remind him he had yet to achieve his family's trademark. The reliance on the eyes had been a flaw that Kakashi saw in every Uchiha he had ever fought, and the jônin refused to allow it to be a flaw in Sasuke. He was going to beat it out of the genin if he had to. The boy seemed to have gotten it towards the end of their time together, moving smoothly without always trying to return to face Kakashi after he dodged.

After today's heavy individual instruction Kakashi planned a more team centred approach for the following day, after his munchkins had finished conditioning and taijutsu practice of course. He would also begin training them in the evenings in the more mind based aspects of shinobi life like information gathering, tracking, and deception skills. He would slowly add more and more hours of instruction to their schedule in order to build up their stamina. He had requested a month's leave from the mission office in order to get his genin up to the skill level he believed genin should graduate with. After a month of this he might just allow them to play with some ninjutsu if his other plans fell though.

Brats better be grateful, he was giving up a lot of his personal time for them. Personal time he could have been using to bring himself back to his ANBU level. It was what he had been doing while his ninken played with his kids.

After placing his meal order Kakashi brought out his favourite orange book. Teaching was really difficult he deserved some _Icha Icha_ time.

"Well, well if it isn't the famous Copy Cat Kakashi," a deep voice drawled from behind him. Kakashi grimaced at the nickname behind his mask and book. He didn't really want company. Looking up he saw it was three other jônin who had been up for the unfair torture of taking on a genin team. "Asuma, Genma, and I don't think we have been introduced," he said nodding at Yûhi Kurenai. The lazy jônin knew exactly who she was but didn't feel the need to reveal that.

Asuma laughed as he plopped down across from Kakashi and scooted to the side to make room for Kurenai. Well, today just wasn't his day was it, Kakashi thought to him- self. Genma pulled up a chair to the booth after Kakashi made no move to allow the senbon chewing shinobi to sit next to him.

"Yûhi Kurenai, meet Hatake Kakashi, elite jônin and all around lazy bastard. You would have been introduced to her if you had attended the genin assignment meetings. Where the hell were you anyway? I know you weren't on a mission," Asuma questioned as he lit up a cigarette.

"I was here and there," Kakashi answered curtly, wondering when he could make his escape. He didn't hate Asuma and actually got along surprisingly well with Genma, they had worked together for a couple years in ANBU, but he had come here for peace and quiet.

"Well wherever you were I heard you passed your team," Asuma continued.

"Like they were going to allow the Uchiha brat to fail no matter what Kakashi said," Genma scoffed. "You still drinking that liquid candy?"

Kakashi shrugged at Genma's jibe at his choice of beverage. "I find it refreshing."

"So do you believe that your team should have failed then?" Kurenai asked. The wrinkle in her forehead showed she was concerned that undeserving or unprepared genin would be passed based on politics.

"Not my problem," Kakashi answered with a sigh. The kunochi looked nearly affronted at his response.

"I sure don't envy you that team," Genma said as he stretched. "My lot were completely incompetent. What the hell do they teach in that academy?"

"I don't think the last Uchiha would be a bad student. Head of his class wasn't he? Who else is on the team?" Asuma asked taking another drag from his cigarette.

"Kid might have been head of his class, but he is a dick. I had to substitute while on injury leave. He is a little shit," Genma offered, swiping Kakashi's melon soda and taking a sip despite the man's protest. "I was on the selection committee this year too. Poor Kakashi got the blonde menace and a whiny fan girl."

"I highly doubt he is that bad, from what I read of his profile he is quite talented," Kurenai rebutted giving Genma a slightly scathing glance. "What is Uzumaki Naruto like?" The question was phrased innocently enough, but Kakashi noticed the woman's exotically coloured eyes narrowed as she said his student's name.

"He is loud."

"Come on Kakashi we all know that," Asuma chided. The chain smoker had heard quite a few stories from the chûnin teachers on mission rotation.

Kakashi shrugged he didn't really feel like sharing his impressions with the other jônin. Team 7 wasn't their business.

Asuma stubbed out his spent cigarette, "You seem to be going easy on them though."

The surprise Kakashi felt did not show on his face. "What gave you that impression?"

"I saw Uzumaki on the way here. Apart from a little ripped clothing the boy seemed perfectly fine. Even my laziest student Shikamaru is walking a little funny from my test and I got the Yamanaka dirty. Girl wouldn't stop complaining about it."

The silver haired shinobi kept his face neutral as he shrugged. So Naruto's healing rate was indeed accelerated like his mother's. He had expected this but the confirmation was nice.

Asuma continued, "You gave your team the bell test didn't you? Who was tied to the stump?" The bell test was well known among most jônin. It was an unwritten rule though that you had to have been given it as a genin in order to use it yourself.

It had been a difficult choice for Kakashi to forgo the tradition. But the Copy Nin had not seen the point in giving them the exam when he already knew they would either fail or pass by the skin of their teeth. Instead Kakashi had chosen three tasks that would showcase the usefulness of one team member's skill and teamwork in general.

The tree climbing was an intelligence and chakra exercise that Sakura would pass with flying colours. The retrieval mission utilized Naruto's surprising tactical prowess. The final fight brought them together as a team and proved without a doubt that Sasuke's current practical skill was stronger than his teammates. They had performed exactly how Kakashi had expected them to with the only surprise being Naruto's creative use of an explosive tag at the end of the fight.

He had asked Naruto to show him the type of tag he had used. The jônin knew the basic explosive tag that genin were allowed to purchase should not have blasted the senbon at that speed. He had been a little shocked to see that Naruto had modified the seals.

When asked about where he learned to modify them, Naruto had reluctantly answered that an old retired shinobi who had lived in his building used to sit on his balcony and write tags. The older man was patient enough to teach Naruto the basics of seals. Naruto had of course studied sealing not to become a better shinobi but to improve his pranking skills.

The old shinobi had passed away last year and instructed his only living relation to give Naruto his sealing kit upon his death. Kakashi had pretended not to see the tears Naruto refused to let fall when he admitted this.

Kakashi would have to test Naruto in the near future on his knowledge of fûinjutsu. Sealing was temperamental and in a worst case scenario an unstable seal array might have deadly consequences for its creator and his or her allies.

"Well, Kakashi?" Asuma questioned looking at him quizzically. The Copy Nin realized he must have been lost in his thoughts for some time.

"I'm sorry what was the question?" he asked with the added bonus of an eye crinkle.

* * *

><p>Naruto groaned as he looked at the amount of bookwork he had to do that night. It had now been three weeks and some odd days since he had become part of Team 7. The reading assignments Kakashi-sensei had began giving them at the beginning of the week were becoming ridiculous.<p>

After the first week of purely physical training from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm Naruto had finally gotten up the courage to ask their team leader why they hadn't received a mission yet. Not even a D-rank. He knew that the other teams were doing them as he saw them occasionally around town. Their teacher's answer was that they hadn't earned the privilege yet, but since Naruto was still energetic enough to think he could do missions on top of the physical training Kakashi would happily extend their training to the evening.

Kakashi had added more instruction on different shinobi skills that they had been taught the basics of in the Academy. Naruto and his teammates spent 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm on these assorted skills till they were finally dismissed. Their only day of reprieve was Sunday. They were expected to be at the training grounds but it was free practice without structure.

In the third week of training Kakashi had started to assign reading to them as well. The reading material was varied and ranged from the history, politics and culture of other countries to more obscure genres' of jutsu and weaponry.

All the school like work was draining on Naruto. He didn't understand why it was important to know why Earth country had a rice trade agreement with Water but not with Wind. Honestly he didn't get why they did either, Wind would probably pay an arm and a leg for the rice given a majority of the land in Wind country lacked the proper amount of nutrients for most forms of agriculture. Smacking his own forehead at the fact he even knew that Naruto let his head drop onto the table in front of him.

He wasn't the only one who grew frustrated with the reading assignments either. Sasuke had at first refused to do them, saying they weren't worth expending his energy on. He had received an extremely painful rebuke from Kakashi. Naruto was just happy that he hadn't been the first one to complain about the assignments.

"Are you really that much of an idiot that you don't understand the importance of knowing your enemy?" Kakashi had asked him after driving the last Uchiha face first into the ground. "Do you think you can just keep your head in the sand on missions and expect to be successful?"

Sakura looked like she was about to protest Kakashi's treatment of their third teammate but Naruto sent her a look that clearly said she was asking for rough treatment herself.

"Did you know that three of Konoha's chûnin were executed last month after getting caught operating in Iwa territory. Konoha cannot seek retribution because of the treaty Fire country has with Earth. Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of your teammates simply because you couldn't crack open a scroll and know where you can and cannot go before a mission? It is not strength that completes missions successfully, it is knowledge."

Kakashi put them through hell the rest of the day in order to drive home the importance of gaining knowledge of the world. Even Sakura was a little bitter towards Sasuke at the end of the day for being the cause of such harsh training.

Naruto glanced at Sakura worriedly. The pink haired girl had become less and less vocal as the days past. She was having a hard time keeping up with the physical training and her appearance showed it. There were bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and her face showed that she was losing weight. She had begun to braid her pink hair to keep it out of the way during training and by the end of the day it would be in complete and utter disarray. Her clothes were rumpled before training even started and her fighting dress was now permanently stained and ripped in several places.

Not that Naruto's clothes fared any better but he wasn't really bothered by it, neither was Sasuke. Sakura however, would pick at her ruined clothes absently during meal times with a frown on her face.

Though their sensei's methods were ridiculous and sometimes cruel, Naruto could see the improvement in not only himself but also his teammates. In their three-way taijutsu fights Naruto could now hold his own against Sasuke and with Sakura's help take him down. Chakra control was still difficult, but with the help of Sakura he could now tree climb and was beginning water walking.

Sakura was still the weakest in taijutsu, but was improving enough to land hits to particularly painful regions of the body. Her flawless chakra control allowed her to water walk on her third attempt. She spent the rest of the time coaching Sasuke and himself in the art. Sakura also enjoyed reading in a way Naruto thought was crazy. She actually went to the shinobi library after practice to complete Kakashi's reading assignments and read up on other subjects she was interested in.

Naruto had asked to join her after the third day of nearly being up till two in the morning. With Sakura explaining the bits he didn't understand he could finish before midnight. Sasuke had actually joined them after the fifth day.

Sasuke was still an asshole in Naruto's opinion but in their second week after Kakashi had introduced their three-way fights he had come to both Naruto and Sakura. In usual asshole fashion he had told them they were pathetic. Before Naruto started to curse him and Sakura burst into tears he began to critique and correct things that they had done wrong during the fight.

Before Naruto would have raged that he didn't need help from the stuck up bastard, but now things were different. Kakashi had beat in the logic that refusing a helping hand was stupid no matter how rudely that hand was offered. Even the bastard seemed to finally get this since he joined Sakura's study sessions.

Naruto had proven to be the best on the team at the evening training and willingly shared everything he knew about tracking, thievery, body language and lying. Lying especially was an art both this teammates were surprised he was adept at. The blonde had also showed them the basics of some of his more complicated traps.

He wouldn't say they were getting along. They didn't spend any time together outside of training or studying, but they really didn't have any time outside of that. They were almost silent at second breakfast that they ate after conditioning and before taijutsu practice. Lunch was a similar affair. They didn't have the energy to fight with each other at least.

Naruto groaned as he collapsed onto his futon that night. In less than five hours he was going to have to do it all over again.

* * *

><p>Sasuke woke up at five in the morning. He folded up his futon and put it in the closet. He dressed quickly, not bothering to run so much as a comb through his hair before turning on his rice cooker and beginning to prepare his meals for the day.<p>

His muscles complained the entire time. Naruto had gotten in a good hit on Sasuke's side the day before and breathing was a little difficult at the moment. Sasuke wasn't sure if he should be outraged the dead-last landed the hit, after all Sasuke had taught him that move.

It was a bit confusing. On one hand he believed that if Kakashi focused all his energy on him he could be far and ahead of what he was now. However, the black haired genin could not ignore that he was making more progress in his training with his team than he had by himself during last year at the Academy. It was just that it seemed his teammates were progressing so much more rapidly than himself. They were still below him, but in just shy of a month Naruto could go toe to toe with him in taijutsu. Sakura, whose physical abilities were terrible, could nearly keep up with Naruto and himself when they ran.

Sasuke knew he was faster, and stronger than he had been, but somehow his teammates were right there nipping at his heels.

A very small part of him was proud. After all, he had been helping them. He was partially responsible for their progress. The rest of it belonged to their demon of a teacher. The man was insane. He also knew how to get results. Sasuke had to grudgingly admit, only to himself, that he respected the silver haired shinobi.

The jônin had somehow made Sakura stop stalking him and Naruto less of an idiot. The two were almost bearable, almost.

His bento packed and first breakfast eaten, Sasuke slipped out of the single bedroom house on the outskirts of the Uchiha clan complex and made for training ground 13. He wasn't surprised to see Sakura already there. The girl had taken to meditating in the mornings after reading up on it last week.

Sasuke moved over to the shed, which Sakura had already unlocked and took out some leg weights. Strapping them on he made for the usual running path. After the first week of training Kakashi had asked them if they could be responsible for their own conditioning. The three genin had jumped at the chance to not be chased around Konoha by the ninken. Their sensei had warned them if he thought they were slacking there would be hell to pay.

Sakura had been the first to slack. Kakashi had given them a warning in that relaxed lazy voice that they had come to realize meant danger. Naruto and Sasuke made sure Sakura didn't slack the next day or the next. By the third week she could be trusted to set her own pace.

Ignoring his protesting muscles Sasuke broke into a run. The others would soon follow. Sasuke pushed himself faster. He had gotten stronger, but it wasn't near enough. He had improved greatly in a few short weeks, but it wasn't enough and he was exhausted. All of it still wasn't enough.

_He_ had graduated the Academy at the age of nine.

_He _had made ANBU at thirteen.

It wasn't enough.

But how could it not be enough? He was literally training around the clock. Even more than he had when he was on his own. Kakashi was running them all into the ground. If he wasn't training, he was eating or sleeping. What more could he do?

What if he wasn't enough?

The traitorous thought grew in his mind like a weed. Sasuke wanted to blame the others for holding him back but were they really? There was no guarantee that he would be progressing any faster without his two teammates.

He had been the best in the Academy this year but his scores were not out of the range of most of the top scoring students from years previous. A Hyûga had actually scored higher last year.

He had seen the records and none of the top students from recent years were even close to _his_ level.

Sasuke managed to graduate at twelve, the average age for children born to shinobi families.

Nothing special.

Nothing genius.

Nothing even close.

He wasn't enough.

The thought disrupted his footing and Sasuke nearly slammed into a tree, veering off to the left at the last second he crashed into some shrubbery instead. His breath came harshly. He was covered in sweat and aching.

God he was tired.

He was tired of waking up to the same four walls every morning.

He was tired of the food he ate nearly every day.

He was tired of being angry.

He was tired of feeling empty.

He was tired of the silence.

He was just fucking tired.

For a few moments Sasuke lay in the shrub and breathed.

On the edges of his senses he picked up someone coming. The black haired genin knew he should get up. It was no doubt Naruto. Idiot was only quiet when he wanted to prank someone.

Why get up? What was there to get up for? He wasn't enough. He wasn't even angry at the thought.

There wasn't even enough in him to be ashamed anymore.

"Sasuke?" Naruto had arrived. Sasuke didn't move, didn't acknowledge the blonde's presence. Maybe if he willed it he could become so still even his heart would stop beating.

"I am not getting the shit kicked out of me for you." Dark eyes opened and connected with blue. "Seriously, get the fuck up." A pink head bobbed through the morning light. The fan girl had arrived too. She stopped behind Naruto looking at him as if she were actually concerned.

Without another word she and Naruto both stepped forward. Naruto, the dead-last, the loud mouthed idiot who never seemed to have a care in the world was holding out a hand to him.

Sakura stood alongside Naruto with a small smile on her face. "Come on, I found something interesting in the library last night. If we push hard we can finish the route and have time to eat and talk about it before Kakashi-sensei arrives. You both will want to know about this."

Sasuke stared at his teammates. In the first week he had thought they were dead weight. In the second week he had exasperatedly begun helping them. If he was going to get stronger they would need to get stronger too. In the third week he had grudgingly begun to have a small amount of respect for them. Now, in the fourth week of training with them he knew that he wasn't going to be rid of them anytime soon.

Sasuke reached out and grasped Naruto's hand firmly.

He wasn't enough.

Not yet.

* * *

><p>A lone figure watched the genin from above. He smirked at the sight before him, his single eye crinkling in genuine pleasure. His plan was working.<p>

Two down. One to go.

* * *

><p>Sakura chewed and swallowed the last bit of her mom's onigiri. Naruto was already finished with his snack and patiently waiting for Sakura to finish eating as well. Well, patient for Naruto, which meant fidgeting and sending her looks that clearly said hurry up.<p>

The only girl of Team 7 merely chewed slower in response. Glancing at their other teammate Sakura bit her lip. Sasuke's behaviour that morning had been more than odd. Sakura even thought his face was wet when Naruto had pulled him out of the bushes.

Not that she blamed him. They had all been working like machines nearly nonstop since they had been put on the team. Even for Sasuke who had trained regularly outside of the Academy it would have been like going from a steady jog to a dead sprint with the expectation that speed was maintained for the same amount of time.

Sakura had faltered in the second week and still struggled daily with her motivation and focus. She frowned in contemplation thinking back on the question Kakashi-sensei had asked her.

"_Why are you here?" The genin flinched at her teacher's question. She had performed poorly today. It was the first day they had worked on conditioning by themselves. Kakashi had obviously been disappointed at her lack of commitment, but she was exhausted! _

_They had barely had any time to rest and Sakura's body ached all over. So, she had decided to go slow on her run that morning and only do about half of the exercises she had been told to do during her taijutsu lessons._

_It seemed that their teacher was all knowing because he called her out during taijutsu practice. Kakashi had instigated a three on one battle where he once again put them to shame. Despite doing much better than their first three on one fight with the j__ônin he still tore them apart._

_A few tears slipped down Sakura's cheeks. "Sakura?" The firm but gentle tone pulled Sakura's pink head up. She hadn't thought her scary teacher was capable of sounding like that. "Why are you here?" he repeated._

_It was a fair question. Why was she here? What was she doing? She wasn't kunoichi. She was just a girl from a civilian family who had followed her friend to the Academy. _

"_I should quit shouldn't I?" she asked bleakly. _

_Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow. "Should you?" he responded. _

_His tone made Sakura wilt. "I'm not good at this," Sakura cried, gesturing wildly._

"_Aren't you?"_

"_Sensei!" _

_The man stared down at his student and crouched to be at eye level. "Do you know why I was angry at you today?" _

"_Because I didn't work hard."_

"_Do you know why that made me angry?" Sakura frowned at her teacher. She didn't, other than him missing some perverse pleasure he most likely got from watching them suffer. "I was angry because you have potential and by not working hard you wasted your time and Sasuke's and Naruto's as well." Sakura blinked. He thought she had potential? Before she could ask Kakashi continued, "I want you to go home and think about why you want to become a kunoichi Sakura. If you don't come here tomorrow with an answer I accept, you're off the team."_

"_But sensei! You just said I had potential!" Tears rushed to the surface as Sakura realized she truly failed. _

_Coming to stand at his full height Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Yes, but what good is potential if you aren't willing to work to fulfill it. Why should I spend time training you when Sasuke and Naruto work harder?"_

_Anger rose in her cheeks, but Sakura bit her tongue knowing he was right. She walked home slowly that night. What was she going to tell her parents? Well, her father was going to be happy no doubt. He had wanted Sakura to quit being a genin the moment she put on her hitai-ate. Her mother would be so disappointed though._

_Why did she want to be shinobi? At first it had been a way to spend more time with Ino. The two had been inseparable after Ino had stood up to the kids bullying Sakura._

_Then one day it changed. All the girls in their class had become obsessed with Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura had thought he was cute and cool, but she had never thought of him past that, but Sakura had been swept up in the fervour and before she knew it she was in rivalry with Ino for his affection. _

_Affection that was completely unattainable from her current perspective. Sasuke only cared about one thing and one thing only, becoming strong. Without Ino around to egg her on, there seemed little point in chasing after the boy. It wasn't fun anymore._

_So where did that leave her? _

_Naruto wanted to become Hokage, or so he kept saying when they were eating. Sasuke was obsessed with becoming stronger, for a reason Sakura didn't know. _

_They both had goals. _

_She had nothing but a broken friendship ruined by a silly game over a stupid boy. A game she hadn't even realized she had been playing till now._

_Sakura had arrived home and could hear her parents fighting before she even walked into the house. By passing the door Sakura jumped and climbed to her bedroom window and silently entered her room. _

_Collapsing to the floor the tears spilled down her face as her parents raged at each other downstairs. _

_At one time her father had been proud that she had gotten into the Academy, a feat that not many civilian children could boast, but now all he wanted her to do was quit._

_At one time her mother had been proud of her intelligence, but how smart was she if she squandered her only true friendship for a boy who barely glanced at her even when they were on the same team?_

_And despite everything she still wanted. She wanted to be a part of Team 7. _

_Sakura joined the Academy for Ino._

_Sakura liked Sasuke because everyone seemed to._

_Sakura did well to please her parents._

_Gritting her teeth Sakura glared at her reflection in the mirror. She wanted this. For the first time Sakura wanted something for Sakura. _

_She tried not to dissect why she was thinking in third person._

_Running, sweating, bleeding beside her teammates was the first time she had ever felt like she had purpose, that she wasn't just going along with what other people wanted or following someone else's shadow. _

_Sakura felt like she finally had figured out what she was meant to do. Finally found out who she was meant to be. _

_She didn't notice that her parents had stopped fighting._

_Tomorrow she would answer Kakashi-sensei's question. _

"Oi Sakura-chan! You're finished so what is your big news?"

"Alright, alright here." She pulled a little black book from her hip pouch. Both boys blinked at the thing before Sasuke's face lit with recognition.

"What is it?" Naruto asked picking up the small black book.

"Idiot, it's a Bingo Book." Ignoring Naruto's glare at his choice of words, Sasuke looked at Sakura, "Why is it interesting?"

The pink haired girl grinned. "It's not just any Bingo Book, it belonged to a shinobi from Iwa." She took back the book, which had no doubt been misplaced as a Bingo Book was not supposed to be left in a section open to genin, from Naruto. "Which means, this book has Konoha shinobi in it." Flipping to the page of interest she held it out so both boys could see.

"That's – " Naruto's exclamation died when he felt the palpable anger pulse from Sasuke.

"Why does he have the sharingan?"

* * *

><p>AN: I want thank you to those of you that reviewed my first chapter. I know it is easy to ignore stories that only have one chapter, but I do intend to update this story regularly.<p>

I'm really enjoying continuing to write this so I hope someone out there is entertained by it.

For those of you that are sticklers on the details, I am aware Genma is actually a Special Jonin and therefore would not be assigned a genin team. This story is a tad AU so I will be changing some things from canon. Like my Naruto has some exposure to seals as I mentioned in the first chapter. No he is not going to become a fuinjutsu master, but it will be a tool in his tool box.

Let me know what you think. Till next time.


	3. Chapter 3 Only the Good Die Young

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Don't have anything witty or creative to add to this disclaimer.

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Only the Good Die Young<p>

* * *

><p>Well this was an unexpected turn of events Kakashi mused. The jônin had been watching his team from the nearby tree line, something that had become somewhat of a habit of his. Though he didn't really enjoy his new stalkerish hobby, it was necessary.<p>

He had hoped he would be able to keep his eye under wraps, at least until they had taken their first mission out of the village. Honestly, where had the girl found a foreign Bingo Book to begin with? Sighing exasperatedly, Kakashi moved from the shadows.

It wouldn't do any good to let the boy's progress go to waste because he got angry at him. The silver haired shinobi had intended to share the story of his own genin team, or at least part of the story at some point to teach his own students a valuable lesson. He just hadn't planned on it being this soon.

But, perhaps they were finally ready to hear it. Sasuke had taken Naruto's hand.

"I think this story calls for a different location," Kakashi said, announcing his appearance to his team. Naruto and Sakura both looked as if they had just been caught red-handed. "Do keep up." He left with his usual poof. Less than a minute later his feet met the ground of the memorial stone clearing. To their credit all of his students arrived only thirty-some odd seconds behind him. Their speed was barely comparable to what it had been after they graduated, but there was still a ways to go.

"Does someone want to explain what is going on?" Naruto complained. Kakashi looked towards Sasuke, who stared right back with accusation in his dark eyes.

Sakura was the first to break the tense silence that followed Naruto's question. "The Bingo Book said that Kakashi-sensei has the sharingan in his left eye. The sharingan is the bloodline limit of the…" she trailed off with a worried glance toward Sasuke.

"…Of the Uchiha clan," Sasuke finished.

"Oh… and it being a bloodline limit means the only way he could have gotten it is…" Naruto's voice faded as he came to his own conclusion of how his teacher must have acquired the eye.

Kakashi cleared his throat, wondering how he was supposed to feel that his students believed him capable of cutting an ally's eye out and taking it. Perhaps he had been a bit too harsh in his training. He would try to use more words of encouragement in the future.

"The eye was given to me."

"No Uchiha would ever give up their eyes!" Sasuke snapped, taking a threatening step towards his teacher.

The jônin sighed, the boy wasn't going to listen to him easily. Stepping aside, so his students could see the memorial stone behind him Kakashi began his story. "I was six when I graduated from the Academy."

A choked noise of disbelief escaped his blonde student and other noises of surprise came from the peanut gallery, but Kakashi continued not believing he could start again if he stopped. "My genin team, well we weren't much of a team really. I didn't appreciate them, thought they held me back. I was only with them for a year before I made chûnin. I began to work missions outside my genin team after that, but our teacher, he made sure that I stayed in touch." Both Minato and Kushina had always looked out for Kakashi.

"What does any of this have to do with-" Sasuke was rudely interrupted by Sakura's foot smashing down on his. Glaring at her he fell silent at her fierce look.

The masked nin watched it all with amusement. "Anyway around the time that I turned thirteen the Third Shinobi War broke out. I was jônin by this time and I was given a mission to lead my old teammates on what was Konoha's first strategic counter measure." Kakashi paused seeing that mention of the war had peaked their interest.

"But, things went wrong. The enemy captured our team medic. My other teammate wanted to rescue her. I told him the mission came first. He… he called me a coward and said that a shinobi that abandons his teammates is worse than trash. To him, nothing came before the team. So he left and I continued on." All these years later and he still felt shame when he remembered that particular discussion.

"You just left them?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"The mission that we were on was incredibly important. If completed it would have been a huge blow to our enemies," Kakashi argued. He had wondered who out of the team would react the strongest to his choice to leave his own team behind. He had been betting on Naruto.

"So what, you left your teammates behind?! You were supposed to be their leader!" Naruto cried, the revulsion he felt at this revelation was clearly written across his face.

"Are you saying that you would have done differently?" the silver haired shinobi asked.

"Hell yes, I would have! I would never leave Sakura-chan or Sasuke behind." The look in Naruto's eyes was fierce. Sensei, you would be proud of your son, Kakashi thought. The jônin noticed the others' reactions to Naruto's proclamation. Sakura was nodding in agreement. Sasuke, though he wasn't outwardly agreeing, there was appreciation for Naruto's words on his face.

"Well then, you are a better shinobi than I was at your age." Naruto blinked up at him in confusion. "It took me maybe an hour to realize what I had done wasn't right, but what changed my mind was how my teacher would have looked at me had I returned without my teammates. So I turned around. I engaged the enemy just in time. During the fight I lost my left eye and one of my teammates, the boy who called me trash was partially crushed when one of the Iwa-nin caused a rock slide. His name was Uchiha Obito and his name is here," Kakashi finished softly, pointing to one of the many names on the memorial stone.

All of his students crowded forward to read the name he pointed to. "Before Obito died he asked Rin, our other teammate and medic to take his eye and give it to me. Obito just awakened the sharingan in that battle. He had awakened it to save Rin. He wanted to make sure it continued to protect her." The jônin watched an assortment of emotions flicker across Sasuke's face. "I come here almost every day. I have made many mistakes. I have many regrets. I wish that you learn from this one." He watched as they all ducked their heads.

Not for the first time since taking on this team did Kakashi feel wholly inadequate and unworthy. He had never been a very good teammate. He didn't see how he was supposed to teach them to be something he was not.

"I think today we will take a break. You can train together if you like." With that Kakashi walked slowly out of the clearing. He needed some time away from them as they digested his story and he recovered from telling it. Gai was back in the village. He wondered if the other man would spar with him.

* * *

><p>Naruto watched his teacher walk away. It was an odd thing. The man almost never walked, well, he did but he always appeared and disappeared in a puff of smoke usually. Naruto was convinced that the masked nin did it because he knew it annoyed the crap out of all of them.<p>

The situation had been uncomfortable and Naruto realized that they barely knew anything about the man they called sensei. Team 7 was quiet as they contemplated what they had been told.

Naruto opened his mouth to ask Sakura and Sasuke what they thought but then closed it. Kakashi's story was supposed to not only answer how he had received the sharingan, but also be a lesson to them about the importance of the team. Talking about anything other than that seemed like a violation of Kakashi's privacy.

It was a heavy thing to leave them with. Naruto looked towards the stone, remembering the days he used to come here and read the names, searching for a particular one.

The blonde repressed a shudder at the thought that any of Team 7 would end up on the stone. Not for a long time if he had anything to say about it.

They didn't have to go back to training, but Naruto didn't really want to have the rest of the day to just his thoughts. He looked towards his teammates. "Rest, of the day off. So maybe he isn't as much of a monster as we thought," the blonde mused. Sakura's pink head nodded. Sasuke scowled but his head also jerked in agreement.

"He also has quite the reputation apparently," Sakura added, holding up the Bingo Book.

"'Still want to know what he is hiding under that mask."

The girl next to him laughed. "You wanted a lesson in meditation right Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, wanna to do that now since we're free the rest of the day?" Sakura nodded and turned to make her way back to the training grounds. "Man, since we are free the rest of the day, wanna get ramen for lunch?"

"We just ate and you're already thinking about food?" the pink haired girl asked incredulously.

"'Course," Naruto responded with a grin. The genin glanced back at his other teammate, "You commin' Sasuke?" The black haired boy had still been looking at the memorial stone. He looked up and with a nod followed the other two.

* * *

><p>Naruto groaned as he flopped backwards. "You're getting closer don't give up," Sakura encouraged. Meditation was apparently a bit more difficult than it appeared.<p>

"Sakura-chan we have been at this for hours, can't we go and get ramen now?" Naruto asked pleadingly, his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

"Fine," Sakura conceded.

"Yes! Oi bastard we're going to go get ramen now! OW! Sakura-chan!"

"Language," the girl said without a hint of remorse.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes at his teammates' antics as he made his way over to them.

Team 7 departed the training grounds together as Naruto expounded on the brilliance of the ramen they were about to enjoy.

"Hey isn't that Chôji?" Naruto said, glancing to his left and pausing in his vocal deliberation on whether he was going to get the miso or the salt ramen first. His teammates followed his gaze. It wasn't just Chôji, but Shikamaru, Ino and what looked like their jônin sensei as well.

"They're probably headed to the mission office in the Hokage Tower," Sakura observed. Team 7 took in their old classmates and dissolved into silence for the rest of the way to the ramen stand, each thinking about different things.

"Why the hell haven't we taken a mission yet? It's been like a month since we became genin," Naruto complained, as he took a stool, Sakura and Sasuke flanking him. "Teuchi-jisan three bowls of miso to start!" Naruto called.

"Idiot, why would you want to go on a D-rank anyway? Waste of time," Saskue scoffed. Naruto rolled his eyes at the insult, used to it by now.

"We'll have to do them at some point," Sakura said, wiping her hands with a moist napkin.

"Mmm, Sasuke might have a point. I'd rather train than take a D-rank, but," Naruto paused for a moment, wondering if he should finish his sentence. "I need the pay," he admitted. Both of his teammates looked at him in surprise.

Three bowls of steaming ramen were put in front of them, interrupting what would have been an awkward silence. "Thanks Ayame-chan!" The other two mumbled their thanks at the brunette server. The three ate in silence. Naruto frowned into his bowl. His funds were running low. He had stopped receiving money from the orphan fund once he made genin. Without the monthly check he wouldn't be able to pay his rent or utilities next month.

"Don't worry Naruto, we'll talk to Kakashi-sensei about taking missions tomorrow," Sakura said as she smiled gently. Naruto gave her a small smile in return and attacked his ramen with more gusto. "Actually there was something else I wanted to talk to you guys about." Naruto and Sasuke both looked up from their bowls at her. "Well you see, I've been doing some reading…"

Naruto snorted, "When aren't you doing some reading?"

The girl rolled her eyes, but plowed on. "Genin teams aren't chosen at random." Naruto and Sasuke shared a look wondering where she was going with this statement. Sakura had a bad habit to ramble before getting to the point when she wasn't sure about something.

"Iruka told us that they were balanced by ability level," Sasuke said, recalling the lecture the day before the teams were announced.

Sakura nodded. "That was what he told us," she agreed.

"Sakura are you saying Iruka-sensei lied?" The idea didn't sit well with Naruto. Iruka-sensei was one of the few adults Naruto actually trusted.

"Think about it. Why would you place the best student and the worst student on the same team? It doesn't make sense."

Naruto frowned. That sounded like balance to him. Sasuke made a noise of comprehension. "What am I not getting here?" he asked.

"The final test is pass fail for the whole team Naruto, not just ours but every jônin's test is designed that way."

The light bulb clicked on in the blonde's head. "Ohh, why risk sending the best back to the Academy by putting the worst on the same team…Hey! I wasn't the worst!"

"On paper you were."

"Sakura-chan!"

"Facts are facts idiot."

"Bastard!"

"Enough! Are you going to let me finish?" Sakura's question quieted them. "I did some research and looked into the other teams that passed the test. First Team 10, Chôji, Shikamaru and Ino. Their team assignment was easy enough to figure out. I stayed over at Ino's a lot when we were kids. All three families are close and were over a lot and I'm pretty sure their dads were all on the same genin team. Ino's dad was training her in clan jutsu, no doubt Shikamaru and Chôji received similar training."

"If it ain't broke don't fix it," Naruto stated, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Exactly, if teamwork is a goal of a genin team they would have it without even trying given they have all known each other for so long. Plus their clan jutsu have proven to be complimentary no doubt."

Sasuke grunted his agreement at Sakura and Naruto's conclusions. "And the other team that passed?" he questioned.

"Team 8, Aburame Shino, Hyûga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba," Sakura listed. "They required a bit of research but they all come from prominent clans." Naruto frowned slightly. It was a rather disturbing trend Sakura had just passed by. He had never really thought about it. All six of the other genin came from the most well-known clans in Konoha. Sasuke was from one as well. Sakura was from a civilian family and he was an orphan. Shaking his head, Naruto focused. "I have a theory about them. Shino's clan uses bugs. They have various abilities but one that I found described in detail was the ability to follow a chakra signature."

Sakura looked at the boys to see if they were following along. They had learned about chakra signatures and could sense and track them to an extent but the skill was not an easy one to acquire. "Hinata's clan is famous for the bloodline limit called the byakugan."

"What does it do?" Naruto questioned.

"It's a dôjutsu, like the sharingan, but it has different abilities. I know it allows the user a 360 degree view of the area surrounding them," Sasuke explained. "The sharingan is superior," he added, ignoring Naruto's scoff.

"Lastly the Inuzuka clan has dog companions. They even take on some canine traits when they bond with their partner," Sakura finished.

"Ahh, I knew that one," Naruto spoke with a grin. "Kiba's got a real sensitive nose, almost too sensitive, you could say," Naruto chuckled.

Sakura shuddered at Naruto's implication, wondering what horrible smells Naruto had forced the other boy to endure. "The point is all these abilities could be very useful in one particular field."

"Tracking," Sasuke supplied, almost as soon as Sakura had finished her sentence.

"But why put those three on a team together if they're all suited for the same thing?" Naruto questioned. "That sure as hell isn't balanced."

"No, but they would potentially be a very strong tracking team," Sakura countered. "With all three of them working together they would never lose a target."

"So, if Team 8 serves a single function then perhaps Team 10 is similar," Sasuke hypothesized.

"I thought so too, but I'm not sure exactly what function that would be. I know most of the Nara clan is highly intelligent, but I don't know what their clan jutsu are based around. Akimichi is a mystery to me as well."

"And Yamanaka?" Sasuke questioned.

Naruto saw hesitance flicker across Sakura's face for a second. "Their jutsu have to do with the mind."

"But that aside, they were put together for a reason and it sure as hell wasn't balance," Naruto ground out. It seemed irrefutable now. Iruka-sensei either outright lied or misled them.

The blonde saw Sakura bite her lip and look at him worriedly. "It also leaves the question of why we are on a team together. Kakashi-sensei has run us back through the basics of the Academy. Sure we are learning taijutsu more suited to us as individuals but basically we have just been perfecting and learning the real world applications of what we learned in the Academy."

"True, it doesn't seem like he is pushing us towards a certain field," Naruto agreed. Blue eyes took in the serious frown on the pink haired girl's face. "Hey it's not a huge deal. Don't get upset over it."

"But, you don't see it? Kakashi has the sharingan."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Well, I don't think we were meant to pass the team test."

Naruto spluttered and Sasuke's head whipped around to look sharply at the girl. "Why would you say something like that?" Naruto cried. Sure, Naruto had realized by now that he had basically played around in the Academy. Yes, he had been ignored by the teachers, but he hadn't tried to better himself on his own either.

Sakura sighed, "Think about it logically Naruto." The girl was purposefully ignoring Sasuke at this point. "My physical grades were terrible. I was probably third to last in the class, and sure my exam scores were high, but if you averaged the two I was a mediocre prospect at best and I would still probably be towards the lower end of that scale."

She held up her hand when Naruto was about to protest. "You were basically my opposite. Sure, you did okay at sparring because of your crazy amount of energy but your technique was horrible and all together you were the worst in our grade. The final genin exam takes physical abilities into account more than written. Even with that bonus you were still the worst because you couldn't perform the clone technique. I wasn't much better, so tell me how we make a balanced team?"

Naruto was speechless and more than a little upset by the time Sakura was finished. The team sat in silence for a few moments, their appetites gone. "But if we didn't pass then Sasuke…?" Naruto trailed off as he finally connected the dots. Kakashi was their teacher because of Sasuke. The blonde didn't like the line that particular realization led to.

"Not every year do the teams divide up equally into groups of three, the whole have to pass with your team thing isn't exactly true. From the records I read through there were times when even single genin were passed in the middle of the year. Kakashi-sensei has the sharingan and was no doubt selected for Sasuke, but that again-."

"Leaves you and me totally out of the picture," Naruto concluded. He didn't know what to feel. Did the Third really expect so little out of him that he had expected him to fail? Why had Iruka-sensei even let him pass the bogus genin exam? Confusion gave way to burning resentment within Naruto.

"So what?" Sasuke's flat voice broke through the fog of emotion in Naruto's head. "So what if you were put on this team to fail. Obviously the monster saw reason to pass us together." Naruto wanted to agree. "Yes, you both were awful, but you both excelled at things we didn't focus on in the Academy. Kakashi's test proved that." Sakura brightened from the praise. "And now, only a month out of the Academy you both have nearly mastered completely new taijutsu styles. We can all walk on water, steal something right out of someone's pocket without them noticing, follow each other through the village while remaining undetected, traps, chakra sensing, weapons, deception detection, we may complain about Kakashi but so far he has done as promised. We're all stronger, faster, smarter and more competent."

Naruto gaped at his usually stoic teammate. From the corner of his eye he could see Sakura looking similarly surprised. "What," Sasuke asked, scowling at their expressions.

The blonde's astonishment turned to mischief as he brought a hand up to his heart. "Sasuke that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me." The black haired genin huffed and rolled his eyes. He tossed money down on the counter and stood. "Wait Sasuke! Does this mean you like me?" Sakura choked on the last bit of broth in her bowl. Naruto grinned as he watched the other boy stalk off. "Looks like the bastard is really warming up to us, Sakura-chan."

His statement was met with a cuff to the back of his head. "Language."

* * *

><p>Sasuke didn't know what to think anymore. He sidestepped a strike to his chest from Sakura and aimed a kick to her face that she avoided nimbly. The discussions from the day before had been difficult to keep out of his head as he attempted to focus on training. After they had finished ramen, the three genin had returned to their training ground to work, even though they had been given the day off. He and Naruto had sparred together until they were both bloody. After patching up their wounds they tried meditating with Sakura.<p>

He didn't want to think about all Kakashi had revealed. Sasuke had spent all these years believing that only himself and that _man_ had (or really had the ability to have in his case) the sharingan, to find that not only was there someone else alive with it and his own teacher at that.

Sasuke felt slightly betrayed by the knowledge. What else hadn't Kakashi told him? The man was tight-lipped about pretty much everything. His teaching method was a primary example. Kakashi never told them the reasons behind anything they did really. It was annoying now, but it had been down right frustrating in the beginning.

_Sasuke ignored his protesting muscles as he bent forwards to avoid Kakashi's sandal from smashing into his face. It was the fourth day of doing nothing but conditioning exercises, taijutsu and chakra control work. _

_His entire being wanted to just collapse into the ground. He aimed a round house kick at Kakashi's side and bit down on his lip hard as Kakashi countered with his own kick. The genin truly thought his shin had snapped in half. Stumbling, Sasuke tried to catch his breath and nearly groaned in relief when Kakashi raised his hand signaling the end of the spar._

"_Naruto, Sakura that's enough," the j__ô__nin called. "Get some water." On the other side of the training ground the other two genin made towards the shade of the trees where the packs were. Sasuke and Kakashi joined them._

"_Sensei, when are we going to start using ninjutsu?" Naruto asked. It was a question that Sasuke himself had been wondering. Kakashi had yet to even mention ninjutsu or genjutsu. They hadn't used either since their exam._

"_Probably not for another month," the man responded._

"_A month?" Naruto exclaimed shrilly. Sasuke seconded the sentiment, but not quite at that volume. "Why not?!"_

"_Do you know what it takes to perform ninjutsu?" Sasuke blinked at their teacher. He knew Naruto was an idiot but he wasn't that much of an idiot…or was he?_

"_Of course I do," the blonde snapped back with a glare. Kakashi simply raised his sole visible eyebrow as if to say prove it. "Chakra."_

"_Correct, and do you know what stops a shinobi from being able to perform a ninjutsu, Sasuke?"_

_Rolling his eyes skyward he answered, "Not enough chakra."_

"_Correct , and?"_

"_Lack of control?" Sakura answered hesitantly._

"_Correct!" Kakashi gave them both a creepy eye smile and Sasuke repressed a shiver. "Now as children," all three of them scowled at being called such, "your chakra systems are underdeveloped and you have access to only a fraction of the amount of chakra you will have when your systems finally stabilize." Naruto looked like he wanted to interrupt, but changed his mind and fell quiet. "Sakura has slightly below average reserves for a genin." The pink haired girl deflated at this. "Sasuke has larger reserves, probably slightly above average, I would say. And Naruto well, has an enormous amount of chakra, perhaps more than even I have now."_

"_What?!" Sakura cried, looking at Naruto open-mouthed. Sasuke cursed inwardly. He had been wondering how the idiot had been able to create so many shadow clones during the final test._

_Kakashi waved a hand, "Some people are just born with a naturally large amount of chakra." The black haired boy wasn't buying it and by the flush of Naruto's cheeks the other boy knew their teacher was lying. "Now, how do we increase chakra capacity?"_

"_You have to increase the two types of energy chakra comes from," Sakura answered quickly._

"_And those are, someone other than Sakura?"_

"_Physical and mental." Nartuto threw out._

"_Yes and how do we increase the physical?"_

"_Exercise," Sasuke said, feeling a little foolish that he hadn't seen where this conversation was going._

"_Exactly. I don't see the point in teaching you ninjutsu that you won't be able to use effectively, when learning and improving your taijutsu not only allows you a more efficient way to take down an enemy, but also increases your chakra capacity at the same time."_

"_But sensei, you just said I have more chakra than you!" Naruto complained._

"_Yes, and your control is so utterly lacking that you can't even manage a simple clone," Kakashi responded smoothly._

"_Which is why you have been making us do the chakra control exercises," Sakura concluded._

"_Yes. Naruto isn't the only one lacking control," he said with a pointed look at Sasuke. "The fire release techniques you used before wasted a huge portion of your energy." Sasuke grimaced at the critique. "Sakura on the other hand has near perfect control naturally." Said girl managed a small smile at the praise. "It is easier to learn control while your reserves are small. That is why we have been focusing on it so heavily."_

"_Sensei, what are some ways we can increase the mental side of our capacity?" Sakura questioned._

"_The mental is a bit more difficult actually, but it can be increased through meditation and study. You also gain it through simply living and gaining experience."_

"_So you're not going to teach us ninjutsu until when exactly?" Naruto asked, not looking at all happy with the situation. Sasuke had to grudgingly agree with the idiot. He had learned some of his family's fire jutsu years ago and now he was a genin and being told he couldn't handle them? The frown was now permanent on his face._

"_Until__ I feel like it." _

Kakashi had ignored their groans at his answer and instructed them to get back to work after he answered Naruto's question. They had all learned that there was a method, or probably a method to the man's madness.

Sasuke's thoughts drifted to the second thread of thoughts occupying his head space. He winced briefly as Sakura's foot made solid and painful contact with the soft part of his thigh. He needed to pay more attention. It was nearly impossible though, he was already cycling through everything that had been said.

He was angry at the insinuation that they had been meant to fail the team test. Uchiha didn't fail. He could follow the reasoning behind Sakura's conclusion, but that didn't stop him from becoming angry about it. Some of that anger was directed at himself. Maybe even a week or two ago he would have been happy to hear it had all been a mistake, that he was indeed worth individual training. A part of him was happy even now, and he was all the more angry at feeling guilty over it.

Sasuke caught a punch from his teammate and used her momentum to flip her over, aiming to bring her down on her back, but Sakura twisted and landed on one foot. Pivoting she kicked at his knee with her other leg causing him to disengage to avoid the painful blow.

The pink haired girl dropped her fighting stance. Her light coloured brows knit together. "You're not focusing," she accused.

Sasuke was saved from answering by Kakashi arriving in the training field.

"Good morning my wonderful minions!" He got three glares in answer. "Ma, you don't seem very happy today." Naruto put down the twin practice knives he had been working with while Sasuke and Sakura approached their team leader.

When they had all come together Sasuke saw Sakura share a look with Naruto. The pink haired girl nudged him softly. "Kakashi-sensei, do you think, well maybe, umm," the blonde struggled to find the words blushing softly.

Sakura sighed and cut in, "Do you think we could take a mission soon sensei?"

Kakashi blinked his one eye in surprise. "You want to take a D-rank instead of training?" Both Sakura and Naruto nodded. "Sasuke?" The black haired boy saw Naruto glance at him from the corner of his eye. Sasuke jerked his head in ascent. "Well, I suppose if that's what you all want. We needed to go to the Hokage Tower today anyway to pick up your salary for the month." The jônin turned on his heel to head back towards the village.

"Our, salary?" Naruto nearly choked on his question.

Kakashi looked over his shoulder, "Yes, come along we don't want to dawdle."

"But we haven't completed any missions!" the blonde cried in confusion. Sasuke glanced at his teammate. He knew Naruto was an orphan, but he had always assumed like himself the blonde's family had left money for him. It was uncomfortable to think about how wrong he had been.

"No, but you still get a base salary for this month. It's there for when you're on injury leave or can't make a living wage while doing D-ranks. Every year you are also entitled to one month's time of training leave. As your team leader, I took the liberty of signing you all up for this month."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Naruto demanded, burning a hole in the back of his sensei's head as they walked.

Kakashi's head tipped back as he looked skyward. "I guess it slipped my mind."

Sasuke snorted and bit down at the frustration he felt on his teammate's behalf. Naruto had been anxious all week, but it wasn't till yesterday that the blonde had told his teammates the reason behind it. Sakura was also glaring at their so-called team leader.

They traveled the rest of the time in silence. They stopped at the mission pay office on the third floor of the Hokage Tower and collected their first month of pay as genin. Money didn't matter much to Sasuke as he had more than he could need, but something in his chest tightened as he watched Naruto carefully count out the amount and do what looked like some mental math, before smiling in relief. The blonde looked up and their eyes met for a second. Naruto flushed and Sasuke quickly looked away.

"Hatake-san?" Said jônin looked up from a certain book.

"Yes?" Kakashi answered. The man asking was obviously a paper pushed despite wearing a hitai-ate.

"The Hokage would like to see you."

"Excellent! Children, shall we?"

The paper pusher frowned slightly. "Um, sir I believe the Hokage wanted to see you alone."

"Well, seeing as my students are here it would be a shame not to present them to the Hokage," the silver haired jônin argued with a smile and a head tilt. Sasuke could see the toothpick like man was severely uncomfortable with this. Glancing at his teacher, the boy wondered not for the first time if Kakashi's ridiculous behavior and odd mannerisms were a mask of their own.

"I don't think-," the man began, but the masked jônin was already walking away from him and up the stairs toward the Hokage's office and the three genin followed along after him.

Naruto was snickering into his palm and even Sakura had a mischievous smile on her face. Sasuke himself smirked.

The door guards let them pass by without fanfare but the secretary seated outside threw a nasty look at their team leader. Sasuke sent her a glare and to her credit she simply raised an eyebrow in return.

The Hokage was seated behind his desk, pipe in mouth and a pile of paperwork strewn across his desk. It had probably been a year or two since Sasuke had seen the man in person. He looked old.

"Ahh, Kakashi, and I see you brought your students," the Hokage greeted. If the man was irritated by their presence he didn't show it.

"Yes, well I was helping them collect their training leave salary," Kakashi explained not making eye contact with their village leader. Sasuke observed this with a small amount of confusion.

"Good, good, and how has their first month been?"

"I would say they have improved. Ya know, I don't know why I haven't taken a team before. It is actually rather fun." Team 7 flinched at the way their teacher said the word fun.

"Kakashi, you failed all the other teams you were given," the older man said with a bemused smile. Sasuke's eyes widened marginally. That was an interesting tidbit of information.

Kakashi simply waved a hand and said, "Well, that wasn't my fault."

The Third sighed, "Do you think Team 7 is now ready to take on a mission? Their peers have already completed quite the number of D-ranks."

Sasuke noticed Sakura and Naruto steal a glance at each other with hope in their eyes.

"Actually I have a request."

The last Uchiha tensed slightly, trying to keep his face stoic. He could almost hear Naruto grinding his teeth in an effort to keep his mouth shut and Sakura's sharp intake of breath.

"Oh, Let's hear it."

"I heard through the grape vine that the mission outpost in the outskirts of Takikawa city is to be renovated and reopened." Team 7 looked sideways at their teacher wondering what the hell he was on about.

"You heard correctly." The older man lost a bit of his good mood and was frowning slightly around his pipe.

"I request permission for Team 7 to over see the renovations and initial start up of the outpost and take missions from there for three months."

Silence.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto who appeared to be having some sort of seizure. If Kakashi hadn't previously beat into him that talking out of turn was not acceptable the blonde would not have been able to control himself. Even Sakura looked like she wanted to speak up. Sasuke had a sneaking suspicion that she had a few choice words for the man.

"I can see that you haven't spoken to your team about this," the Third observed.

"Does their opinion matter?" The Hokage was actually frowning at this question and Sasuke was confused by Kakashi's response. That morning the man had made sure that they had consensus before agreeing to allow them to take on a D-rank mission.

"As their team leader you know very well that they must follow you, but I would like to hear their opinion on the matter, " the Hokage cast his disappointed gaze away from Kakashi and looked towards the genin.

The three looked at each other. Sakura bit her lip showing she was unsure. Sasuke guessed it was about being away from the village for so long. Naruto looked contemplative and Sasuke remembered that he had never been outside the surrounding area of the village.

The black haired genin quickly weighed everything in his mind. Both Naruto and Sakura wanted to take missions. Sasuke had to admit that there would be some benefit to that. Naruto wanted to go outside the village and Sasuke couldn't help but feel the same. He hadn't been out since… The genin also thought there were far more reasons Kakashi wanted them to take this posting than he would admit any time soon.

He jerked his head down firmly showing his support for the proposal.

Sakura's lips firmed before she too nodded. Naruto tilted his chin to Sakura, saying he thought she should be the one to speak, and Sasuke showed his agreement by looking back towards the Hokage's watching eyes.

Sakura cleared her throat, "We agree with our team leader. This would be a great opportunity for us."

"Oh, how so?"

Sakura barely paused before answering, "Though we have yet to complete a mission, we have worked hard over the last month to improve and correct any skills lacking from the Academy. Kakashi-sensei has instructed us not only in physical aspects of shinobi life, but he has also made us more aware of the goings on outside the village. This mission will put that knowledge to use and allow us to see its real world application and importance. Takikawa is a prosperous city that lies on the only land boarder between Fire and Water country. Because of its location, I would estimate that nearly half the city's shinobi contracts go to Kirigakure. An outpost would no doubt increase the contracts Konoha would receive from this area. Do to Kiri's continued unrest, now would be the best time to reopen the outpost."

Sasuke kept his face stoic, but inwardly he was impressed. He knew only the location of the city.

"Well said, but this would no doubt be a C-rank mission or possibly B-rank mission. Chûnin would normally be sent on such a mission. Why should I send a group of untried genin?"

The last Uchiha could nearly see the cogs behind Sakura's eyes running at full steam. "Sending a team of chûnin would cost more not only in mission pay but also in the money that team of chûnin would have brought in had they been doing other missions. It would only be ranked such because of the length of duration and the risk of the location," Sakura answered her voice faltering slightly. Naruto and Sasuke both shifted minutely toward her in a show of support. "If we remove both those factors it would no doubt be a D-rank. Kakashi-sensei is an S-class shinobi. His presence greatly diminishes the risk, and as for the duration, well it doesn't matter does it?"

The Third removed the pipe from his mouth as he sat back. "You have two months to get the outpost up and running. By the end of those two months I expect that the mission revenue from the area increase by at least ten percent. Once you arrive I want an estimation of the cost of renovation and an estimated completion date. When the building is finished I will send an administrative chûnin to man the mission office. You will be expected to not only take missions in the area, but support the daily business and upkeep of the outpost." The Hokage's wrinkled eyes appraised their reaction to this appointment. "As your teacher is quite experienced in the comings and goings of outpost life I expect you to perform above and beyond expectations.

Sasuke swallowed thickly, wondering exactly what they had gotten themselves into.

"You are dismissed." Sakura bowed and both Naruto and Sasuke followed her example a beat later. They headed to the door together with Kakashi taking the rear. "Kakashi," the Hokage called before the jônin had made it through the door. The three genin paused as well, looking back. "Do not think you can pull something like this again." As Kakashi turned back around to resume walking Sasuke thought he saw a flash of irritation before their sensei's face turned placid.

There was something going on that he and his teammates were not privy to, but it definitely concerned them Sasuke thought.

* * *

><p>Sakura's mind was reeling after the meeting with the Hokage. She could barely remember what she had said, but whatever it was it was fucking brilliant. She couldn't stop the self-congratulatory smile that spread like wild fire across her face. Though she was still giddy from her success, dread at what she was going to tell her parents began to poison her good mood.<p>

Sakura was glad that she was too busy to spend much time at home. The fighting had ended and in its wake the silence was stifling. Sakura couldn't help but feel that she somehow was responsible for their fighting. Her mother was proud and encouraging at the beginning of her genin training, but now the two barely spoke. Her mother's continued silent treatment hurt Sakura deeply.

With her mother's silence, feelings of inadequacy had come to creep into the genin's mind.

The only time Chiho interacted with her daughter now, was to help her fix her hair and cluck over her appearance. The fact that her beautiful, flawless mother was hemming and hawing over her looks was greatly troubling to Sakura.

Chiho had given her daughter the pink hair she was named for. The older woman's own hair was darker in color but undeniably pink. It hadn't helped Sakura's self-esteem, when spending time at the playground as a child all the other mother's gushed over Chiho's looks, but then in the same breath would comment how much Sakura took after her father.

The first time Sakura had come home crying after being teased by other kids for her wide forehead, Chiho had wrapped her in the warmest of hugs and told her daughter that she was beautiful inside and out and smart to boot. Her mother's kind words were nowhere to be found now. Sakura would come home with bruises and hair matted with sweat and her mother would just frown and fuss.

Haruno Tatsuki also praised his daughter's brains once upon a time. Whenever he would return home he would bring a book from his travels. Sakura loved his surprises up until Ino had shown her the pretty trinkets her father would bring back from his missions. What good was a book when Ino's bejeweled hairpins won her the envy of all the girls in the schoolyard? Soon Sakura began to resent whenever one of her parents called her smart. She didn't want to be smart. She wanted to be pretty, like Ino.

Up until Kakashi's test Sakura hadn't been able to see that being smart got you anything other than a pat on the head.

Now her father didn't seem to care that his smart daughter was actually making something of herself. At first her mother's encouragement had eased the sting of Tatsuki's condemnation of her chosen career, but it didn't fully shield Sakura from the pain.

And now, now she didn't even have that from her mother to soothe her hurt.

_It had been a good day. Sakura and Naruto had taken Sasuke down for the first time on a two on one spar and the three of them working together had been able to track Kakashi-sensei successfully through the forest._

_Sakura was aching and bruised as usual, but flushed with pride at the day's achievements. It wasn't even 9:00 at night and she was getting home, which meant she could have a nice long bath before bed. _

_She silently made her way into the house seeing that the light was on in her father's study. She passed the door to the study quickly, but was called back. "Sakura." The genin bit her lip. Nothing good ever happened when her father used that tone. Sakura entered the room and saw that her mother was there too, mending some clothes._

"_Yes, dad," Sakura said, coming to stand in front of her father's desk. Familiar green eyes took in her grubby appearance and the girl tried not to flinch at the scrutiny. _

"_This nonsense has to stop." _

_Sakura blinked in confusion, shooting a glance at her mother whose head remained bowed over her work. "What?" the girl asked off kilter at his proclamation._

"_Tomorrow I want you to inform your jônin sensei that you quit. You will be joining me on the next buying trip. It's time you started learning the business."_

_Sakura gaped, open-mouthed at her father. Quit? Quit, after all she had already been through? Quit after she had only just a few days ago decided she wanted this. Quit, and leave Sasuke and Naruto behind? Her father was still talking._

"_You were not meant to continue this silly dream after the Academy at all." _

_Silly dream. Is that what it was? Sakura knew she was the weak link in Team 7. She wasn't as skilled as Sasuke or as tenacious as Naruto. How she had ever thought differently… But to just up and quit because her father decided to finally spend some time with her? Yeah, fuck that, a strong voice in her mind declared._

"_No." The confidence in her voice was strange even to her own ears._

_Her father frowned. "Excuse me?"_

"_No," she repeated._

"_Sakura this is not up for discussion your mother and I have already decided."_

_The sting of betrayal was sharp and swift, but now Sakura was too angry to care. "No, I am doing exactly what I want. I am a kunoichi of Konohagakure." Sakura saw her mother raise her head out of the corner of her eye._

"_No, you are my twelve year old daughter." Her father's face clouded over with anger and inwardly Sakura shrank. She hated to make either of her parents upset. She hated even the idea that they were angry or disappointed in her, but she wasn't giving up her team. "You will quit tomorrow or I will meet with your teacher and do it my self. "_

_Tatsuki was livid at this point. Sakura supposed it was because she had never been willfully disobedient. Imagining just how that meeting would go momentarily amused her. _"_He will not accept that. As a genin, I am seen as an adult." It was the wrong thing to say._

_The angry man came to his feet and brought his hand down against his desk with a bang. "You are my child and you will listen to me!"_

"_Dad, I want, no I am a kunoichi. I know you aren't happy about it but its what I am!"_

"_You don't even know what that word means! Do you realize that one day you will have to kill. That one day you might not," her father choked slightly, "you might not come back? And you!" The husband turned to his wife, "This whole time you have been encouraging her, our only daughter to run off and get herself killed!" His voice broke just as a wave of understanding washed over Sakura._

_Logically the girl knew it was a possibility, but she had never thought how her dying might affect her parents. Her mother muffled a sob with her hand in the corner. The anger in the room cooled as quickly as it had blossomed._

_Could she go back? Could she stop now, after finding her resolve?_

"_Why did you even let me join the Academy?"_

_There was a beat before Chiho answered, "You were having so many problems with other children, you would come home crying nearly everyday. Then you met Ino-chan. We thought it would be good for you, that it would build your self-confidence._

_Her father rubbed his face. "It's rare that children from non-shibobi families pass the final genin test, or so I was told."_

"_You didn't think I would pass…" It was like Kakashi's fist caught her in the stomach. _

"_Sakura, I…" her mother began, but whatever she said Sakura didn't hear it. She could understand her father's fear. After all, she didn't want to die, but for him to think she couldn't pass?"_

"_I'm going to bathe now." She needed to get out she couldn't stay here and look at them._

_Tatsuki opened up his mouth to say something, but Chiho cut in, "Ok honey, we'll talk about it more at breakfast." Sakura left without another word._

_The morning after her father's proclamation Sakura got up and followed the same routine she had been following for nearly four weeks. She woke up, packed herself left over's and made fresh rice before either of her parents woke up. _

_She was halfway through her conditioning regime before she realized that she wasn't supposed to be at the training grounds. She stopped doing sit ups and just hung from the tree branches by her chakra infused feet. _

_Beside her Naruto and Sasuke both paused._

"_Sakura-chan, is something wrong?" Naruto asked._

_The girl looked at them both. No, she decided. Nothing was wrong. Shaking her head she mustered a smile and continued._

"Oi sensei! What's this about us leaving Konoha for three months?" The blonde looked up questioningly at his teacher.

"I will answer any questions I want to answer, but we will leave it for tomorrow. You no doubt have lots to prepare. You all have camp packs correct?" Sakura nodded. They had been required to buy a basic bedroll and traveling bag in the Academy when they learned how to set up temporary lodging. "Good, I have two tents we can use so that covers that and I will also prepare travel rations. We will be gone for quite some time but pack as light as possible. It will only take a few days to reach the city and we will resupply there."

A few days, Sakura thought dazedly. She knew that it took nearly two weeks for her father's caravan to get there from Konoha. They were going make the trip in a few days?!

"Do bring any training materials you think you will need tomorrow morning. I will have packing scrolls to seal them in. You're dismissed for the rest of the day." Kakashi tapped his chin. "I'm forgetting something… oh right. Sasuke." Said boy stiffened as he was singled out. "You can't wear your clan symbol outside the village."

Sakura and Naruto shared a look before subtly backing away from their teammate who was now leaking anger out his pores.

"I am an Uchiha, it is my right and duty to wear-"

"Yes, yes you are very proud to be Uchiha, we know," Kakashi said, waving a hand. Sakura sighed as the jônin stepped directly onto a land mine. "Before you blow a gasket think for a moment. You are one of the last people in the world who carries the blood of the sharingan. Do you know what that makes you?"

Sakura drew in a sharp breath. Sasuke, however didn't seem to understand. Sakura could tell he was still too angry to think properly.

"It makes you a target for those who wish to remove the power of the sharingan from Konoha. Or worse you are a commodity worth capturing alive."

"How could alive be worse?" Naruto asked.

"You are supposed to be the imaginative one," Kakashi accused, looking slightly disappointed. "Sasuke is twelve, more than old enough, I would think and if not it would be a short wait."

Sakura flushed at the implication. "Sasuke wouldn't-," she began.

"I don't think Sasuke would have much of a choice in the matter."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto huffed, irritated that he wasn't following the conversation. Sakura was beet red at this point and Sasuke looked to be turning a bit green.

"Why harvesting Sasuke's sperm of course," Kakashi said as if pointing out the sky was blue.

"What!" Naruto squawked looking equal parts disturbed and outraged.

"So, as I said lose the clan symbol unless you want to end up dead or forced into fathering an army of little Sasukes." Sakura didn't dare look at Sasuke as Kakashi turned to leave. "Be at the training ground by six tomorrow morning ready to leave." The man poofed away leaving behind three scarred genin.

"Dude…" Naruto started, "I think I am gonna have to agree with Kakashi-sensei on this one."

Sasuke's mouth worked but little sound came out.

"Sasuke… are you alright?" Sakura asked. It was a stupid question. Sakura wasn't alright and that conversation hadn't even been about her.

Sasuke closed his eyes, jaw twitching. "If I can't wear my clan symbol the idiot can't wear that stupid orange jumpsuit."

"Oi! Why are we making this about me? I'm not the one with the damn super sperm!"

"Naruto don't say that word," Sakura hissed. The girl shuddered and tried to focus on thoughts that didn't revolve around Sasuke's…stuff. "Why don't we all get some new clothes?" She needed to anyway. The dress she wore, though pretty was not made of the sturdiest fabric. Sakura wasn't sure how many more times her mother could mend it.

"But…" Naruto's protest was soft and he shifted uncomfortably.

"I can loan you the money," Sasuke said. Sakura bit her lip. She hadn't thought about the money.

"I'm not some charity case," Naruto snapped hotly.

"That's why I said loan dumbass. Try and keep up," Sasuke sneered.

"Bastard!" Naruto roared grabbing the front of his teammates shirt.

Well that escalated quickly, Sakura thought. Raising both arms she smacked them round their heads so their foreheads crashed together. "Enough! Naruto, neither Sasuke nor myself will think any less of you if you borrow some money. We know you will pay it back. Sasuke you could use a lesson in diplomacy. Now lets get to it. We still have a lot to do before tomorrow."

Sakura strode purposefully towards the shopping district, not looking back to see if they followed her. The girl calculated what she needed in her head as she walked, ignoring the continued tension between her teammates. Boys.

She stopped outside of Sato's Shinobi Wears. Her father did business at this shop and she knew there was a good chance the owner would give her a discount. The boys came to stand beside her and she told them as much.

"Let's just get this over with," Naruto said through clenched teeth. The blonde went ahead first. Sakura gave Sasuke a look. Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow in return as if to say it wasn't his fault. Sighing Sakura entered the shop.

"…I won't sell to ya! Get out of my- Sakura-chan!" Sato-san himself was behind the counter. Pity, the pink haired girl had been hoping his wife would be minding the shop today. Sakura took in the scene before her quickly. Naruto looked like he was ready to explode and the shop owner looked nearly ready to come around the counter.

"Sato-san," Sakura managed a sweet smile, "my teammates and I need new attire for an upcoming mission."

"Teammates?" the shopkeeper repeated.

"Yes, teammates," Sakura said again, indicating both Naruto and Sasuke who had come up beside her.

"But," Sato spluttered for a moment, "Your father mentioned you were going to work for him the last time we spoke."

Both her teammates stiffened and Sakura's smile fell. "Plans change. Is there a problem? We can always go to Miyako's?" Catching on to her plan Sasuke made to leave flashing the Uchiha symbol on his back as he did so.

Sharp green eyes took in the portly man's change in face when he saw the symbol.

"No! No problem at all! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you!" The pink haired genin couldn't help but feel slightly slimy as she smiled again. Sakura began to grab an assortment of articles from the racks as she quickly made her way to the back of the store.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto whispered.

"Wait," was all she said in return.

Once they had reached the back of the shop, she hastily pulled the curtain to the small dressing area open, nearly tearing it and shoved both boys in ignoring Naruto's protests. She violently closed the curtain as she too entered.

"What's this about you going to work for your dad?" Naruto asked and Sakura tried not to feel hurt over the accusation in his voice.

The girl sighed. "My father isn't happy that I am kunoichi. He, he didn't think I would actually become a genin after I graduated the Academy." Looking up at the boys she saw there were both confused.

"He thought you would just quit after you got through the boring bullshit of the Academy and finally got to the good part?" Her loud teammate was surprisingly quiet in his incredulity.

Sakura paused before she admitted that her father hadn't believed she would pass the final test.

They had already covered this in the earlier discussion at the ramen shop. Sakura didn't want to reveal that the root of her issues was her own father's lack of confidence in her abilities. "It's not important. I don't plan on quitting." Sakura's eyes lingered on Naruto for a moment, wondering if she should ask about the scene she and Sasuke walked into, but decided it would be better left alone for now. "Lets just get this over with."

Shopping didn't take as long as they all had expected it would. After training for a month they had a better idea of what they each wanted from their clothing. Sasuke put his foot down when it came to loud colours, so all their clothing was either neutral or black. Sakura helped the boys choose the fabric most suited to their needs. They were out of the store within two hours.

Sakura haggled with Sato to get the price of their clothes lowered. When the time came to pay she was a little concerned about Naruto becoming upset again, but the boy allowed Sasuke to pay for some of his things without much fuss.

Sakura didn't fail to notice the shop owner glare daggers at her teammate. Sakura couldn't help but feel her temper rise.

Perhaps she could slip into her father's office tonight and find something she could use against the man in the future. Sato's was more expensive than his competitors, but the craftsmanship of the pieces was higher quality. She and her teammates would no doubt be back in the future.

Sakura arrived home to an empty house and quickly began to pack up her travel bag. She was in the middle of getting her toiletries into travel-sized bottles when she felt her mother enter the house. Finishing what she was doing Sakura took a breath. Might as well get it over with.

Chiho must have come back from the market as the kitchen was littered with food goods, when Sakura entered the kitchen.

"Mom," Sakura said in greeting.

Her mother who had been bent over with her head in the fridge jumped with a squeak and whirled around. "Sakura!," the older woman gasped pressing her palm against her chest. "You scared me," she admonished. "Is something the matter? Why are you home so early?"

Sakura bit her lip before throwing caution to the wind. "I am leaving on a mission tomorrow."

"Leaving? As in leaving the village?" Chiho asked softly. Sakura nodded. Chiho sat at the table and gestured for Sakura to do the same. "For how long?"

Sakura ducked her head. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to ask why her mother cared suddenly cared. Her mom had spoken barely a word to her in five days. But she couldn't be angry when she saw the grief in the older woman's blue eyes. "Two months."

Her mother's sharp intake of breath made Sakura bite her lip again. "I see." Sakura stood. The message had been delivered there was nothing else to say. "Sakura." The girl froze and looked up at her mother's smiling face. "I'm so proud of you."

Sakura breathed trying to suppress the tears that were quickly coming to the surface. "Why?" was all she managed to choke out. All the hurt and anguish she felt over the last week rose to the surface.

"Oh my baby." Chiho stood and encircled Sakura in a hug. "The last thing I want is for you to get hurt but you have been so happy since you joined the team. I knew I could never take that away from you."

"But dad said," Sakura refuted shaking her head against her mother's shoulder.

"Your father is worried for your safety and doesn't know how better to deal with it."

Pulling back slightly to look at her mom Sakura wiped at her face. "But why all the terrible words against shinobi? I know a lot of them are true in a certain light, but we live in a shinobi village."

Sakura saw her mother's face freeze at her question. "That has nothing to do with you, put it out of your mind."

The young girl nodded and tried not to think about how her mother pressed her lips together, a habit she did when she was hiding something. "Did you really think I wouldn't pass?" Sakura whispered.

"Oh Sakura," Chiho said as she pulled her daughter in for another tight hug. "I believe you can do anything you set your mind to. You are so much smarter and stronger than I was at your age."

Sakura breathed in her mother's scent and stopped thinking about anything other than how good it felt to be hugged.

* * *

><p>Naruto was surprised by a knock on his door that night and even more surprised to open the door to see his one eyed teacher with a cardboard box in his hands. Kakashi wasn't one to make house calls.<p>

"Uhh sensei?" Naruto greeted dumbly.

"Good evening my favorite blonde student!" his teacher greeted in return.

"Would you like to come in?" Naruto asked throwing a questioning glance at his apartment that was in no shape to receive guests.

"No no no, I am sure you are busy preparing for tomorrow, I just wanted to come by and give you these." The jônin lifted the box he was carrying and Naruto held out his arms to receive it.

"What are these exactly?"

"Well, I haven't looked in here for a while but these were some scrolls my sensei gave me when I started out learning fûinjutsu. There might be some ninjutsu mixed in there too, but I thought with your interest in sealing you might want to have them. Take a look through them tonight and see if you wanted to bring any of it along," Kakashi explained as he handed the box off to Naruto.

The genin took the box, not knowing what to say as his throat tightened, making it difficult to swallow. In his entire life he could count on one hand the amount of times he had been given anything. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei," he said finally, not looking up at the man.

"No problem. I best get going still haven't started packing myself. This elderly gentlemen needed help fixing his radio." With that the silver haired shinobi left and Naruto slowly closed the door to his apartment.

Setting the box on the table he excitedly cut through the tape holding it closed. There were indeed scrolls inside and Naruto quickly began sorting through them. There were fûinjutsu scrolls, ninjutsu scrolls, some blank scrolls and then at the bottom of the box a small book.

Thinking that his sensei had probably thrown the book in at some point and forgotten it, Naruto flipped it open and was surprised to see it wasn't a book but a photo album. The first picture he happened to flip to was one of a much younger Kakashi and what looked like his genin team.

Naruto stared at the young faces. Kakashi looked serious and stoic and notably didn't cover his left eye. The black haired genin in the picture was sticking out his tongue and flashing the peace sign with one of his hands. The boy realized it must be Uchiha Obito, the boy who taught Kakashi what it was to be a team. The female teammate was pretty. Naruto wondered where she was now.

Naruto hesitated before he flipped to the next page. Kakashi had probably given this to him by mistake. It would be an invasion of privacy if he continued looking through it. But, what if there was a picture of Kakashi without his mask? Curiosity won.

Flipping the pages he got a shock when he recognized another team picture with a very famous shinobi in it. The Fourth Hokage's face smiled up at him surrounded by Kakashi's team. Naruto blinked in shock. Kakashi's sensei had been the Fourth Hokage!

There were some other faces that appeared, a woman with long red hair, a man in a green jumpsuit, a man with long white hair and a very buxom blonde woman.

Hurridly, Naruto began to flip the pages quicker, but stopped when he realized that Uchiha Obito no longer made an appearance and Kakashi's hitai-ate was slanted. Obito must have died, Naruto thought. His teacher looked older, and the third teammate's face always had a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Naruto thought for a moment that he should stop looking through it as he doubted there were any pictures of a maskless Kakashi, when he came across the Fourth and the red haired woman holding hands. He had not known that the Fourth had been married. Perhaps they hadn't been, but he could see the two cared deeply for each other.

He flipped to the next page and saw that the next few were of just the Fourth and the woman, and a few more flips the woman was revealed to be pregnant by the bulge of her stomach and the Fourth kneeling in front of it.

He had definitely never heard of the Fourth having a child. Reaching the end of the book he came to the last picture. It was the woman, who was large and round holding Kakashi's hand to her stomach with a large grin on her face despite the reluctant look on Kakashi's.

What had happened to the child, Naruto wondered. How could the child of the most celebrated Hokage in history not be known through out Konoha?

The corner of the picture was bent out of shape. Naruto tried to bend it back into the slit where it was supposed to be held, but only managed to pull the other corners out of their slots. Sighing he picked the picture up to straighten it out properly.

Markings on the back of the picture caught his attention. He turned it over and his heart nearly stopped as he read the words written on the back.

_Kushina, Kakashi and baby Naruto_

* * *

><p>AN: First let me say thank you to everyone who left a comment and another thank you to those of you that have commented more than once. It always makes me ridiculously happy to read them.

Kleio96: I was like how did you know where I was going when I read your comment. I did end up giving the memorial speech kind of. I hope it didn't disappoint. Also another point on Kakashi's character which I hope came across in this chapter but maybe not is that Kakashi isn't comfortable with opening up to his team quite yet. He understands the necessity of the kids learning from his experiences but he still can't connect emotionally with his team.

The Hate Child: I have to agree with your point about Naruto. The truth is Naruto is the most tiring for me to write which I didn't really expect. I really thought that would go to Sasuke because I hate canon Sasuke with a passion. But no Naruto is the most difficult. I think it's because Naruto is furthest away from my own personality. I already had a majority of this chapter written when I read your comment but I will try my best in the future to make Naruto more, well Naruto

I know this chapter was light on Kakashi. Next time I promise.

I won't have the next update quite so fast I am sorry to say but under two weeks I promise.

I also did the very standard new clothes schtick. I think it is honestly necessary. The idiocy of having someone with a rare bloodline limit wear a shirt that proclaims it is just too much.

My apologies for grammar mistakes or typos.


	4. Chapter 4 A Good Shinobi is Hard to Find

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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><p>Chapter 4: A Good Shinobi is Hard to Find<p>

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><p>Kakashi found a seat at the back of the small drinking establishment. Though he had plenty of prep to do that night he had a social call to make before he turned in. The Nail's Head, his favorite drinking establishment, was a little off the beaten path and frequented by mostly blue-collar civilians. It had become one of his favorite hidey-holes because of its delicious fried potato wedges and service that wasn't overly friendly. Overly friendly people had always made the reclusive jônin anxious. It was the friendly ones you had to watch out for. They tended to have agendas.<p>

He had already put an order for the food at the bar along with two beers. It was rare for Kakashi to arrive before whomever he was meeting, but as a teacher his schedule was far more predictable than it had once been.

Not that his schedule was the reason why he showed up to things late. But good food and good beer was a sure way to make Kakashi arrive on time, especially when the company that he was expecting was someone Kakashi actually cared to be on time for.

While Kakashi waited he mulled over his choice to give Naruto the box of his father's old things. Minato-sensei had been a little manic about documenting things with photography. It was little known but the man had a rather artistic streak. Taking a sip of his first beverage of the night the jônin decided it was something that had to be done. It would no doubt lead to some trouble but keeping it from the boy didn't make sense anymore.

Tenzô, punctual as ever plopped down across from him just as a waiter dropped off the potato wedges and Kakashi's musings came to an end.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted.

"Been some time senpai." There was no accusation in Tenzô's voice, but the older shinobi wouldn't have been surprised had there been.

After being discharged from ANBU, Kakashi hadn't been at his best. ANBU had given him purpose after losing Rin. It gave him direction and the structure he needed, but it was also a crutch for his grief and other issues.

The time watching over Kushina had been exactly what he had needed at the time. Kushina was the antithesis of what a kunoichi should be. She was loud, hot headed and compassionate to a fault. Naruto was so much like his mother and he didn't even know it.

After the Fox everything started to go down hill. The Third made him a captain in the wake of the massive loss of life. The new appointment left little time for Kakashi to process which was exactly what he wanted but not at all what he needed.

His time in ANBU was by no means awful. The work wasn't always clean but ANBU were a close-knit group and they supported each other. As a captain though the responsibility of his team's safety weighed on him. Every time a member was injured or killed it was a blow to his already fragile state of mind that was barely keeping it together under the surface.

The Uchiha massacre had been a breaking point. Itachi had been a member of his squad before the young man was promoted to captaincy. Kakashi never saw anything in the genius Uchiha to suggest he was capable of slaughtering his entire clan. By all means Itachi had been an efficient and reliable member of his squad. When review time came around Kakashi only had good things to say. He didn't quite think the young man was ready to lead a squad but at the time he didn't say anything against it. Perhaps if he had… things would be different now.

He had been a first responder to the compound. By then though it was all over. If Kakashi hadn't lived through the Third Shinobi War and the Kyûbi attack he would have lost his dinner. Many less experienced ANBU did in fact lose theirs.

It was a blood bath. No one was spared, not even the children or the elderly.

Only one left alive.

The Third soon announced Itachi's guilt, far too soon for Kakashi's liking. Once the announcement came and ANBU squads were reassigned from collecting evidence to hunting down the man, boy really, who had committed the atrocities.

It didn't seem right. None of it was right. None of it made sense even at the time, but all Kakashi could think about was how he had read the other shinobi so wrong, and with this failure and betrayal of someone Kakashi called friend the famous Copy-nin broke.

He hadn't gone on a rampage, but things began to slip. When he was on missions he was reckless. He took missions that he wasn't supposed to return from and every time he came back alive he quickly signed up for another. When he wasn't on a mission he locked himself in his apartment and got trashed while brooding over his survivor's guilt.

And that was how Gai found him one night, nearly blind drunk and still injured from a mission he had returned from. If Gai hadn't come knocking his injuries could have been fatal.

His discharge from ANBU on paper was an honorable one but that was more of a gift from the Hokage for his years of service. After leaving ANBU he fell off the face of the planet.

It wasn't a time he was proud of or wanted to revisit any time soon.

Once he was back on his feet, he began taking missions as a jônin again, but didn't make the effort to reconnect with his old friends in ANBU. Half scared and half tempted to rejoin the corps he knew he wasn't quite ready for that much contact with those actively serving.

"Ah, it has been quite a while," Kakashi agreed with Tenzô's statement. The silence that followed was awkward.

They both preoccupied themselves with their drinks and the food in front of them for a few moments. The parmesan cheese and spices sprinkled on top of the wedges was the perfect touch. Whoever they had working in the kitchen obviously had more taste buds than the usual fry cook.

"You know for someone who didn't grow up in a laboratory as a science experiment your social skills are shit," Tenzô chided with a small smile.

The jônin froze for a moment before a soft genuine chuckle escaped him. Tenzô's smile widened. "I'm sorry for not keeping in touch after I quit."

The brown haired man shook his head. "You needed to get out and leave it in the past. I knew that. Water under the bridge."

Kakashi bowed his head at Tenzô's acceptance of his apology. "How are things?"

"Same old, same old."

"I heard you turned down another captaincy."

"Yugao was a better leader. I never wanted the position anyhow," Tenzô replied with a shrug. "I heard hell froze over and you took on a genin team."

"Weather has been a bit chilly recently," the retired ANBU confirmed.

"How goes it?" Tenzô asked, genuine interest clear in his voice.

Kakashi signaled the bar man for another round for himself and contemplated his answer. "It's better and more frustrating than I expected," he replied honestly. "I got Itachi's little brother, Minato's son and the daughter of some civilians." Kakashi paused and let Tenzô absorb that.

Tenzô was one of the few people to speak out against Itachi joining ANBU. Though not much older than Itachi, when he himself had joined Tenzô had believed the Uchiha to be too young. Perhaps his friend had been right about that one.

"I wanted to ask you something," Kakashi spoke as he quickly popped another wedge into his mouth and chewed.

The ANBU waved his bottle to say continue before taking a swig.

"I'm leaving on a two month long posting in Takikawa."

Tenzô swallowed his last mouthful of beer. "The Hokage is sending you and the genin team?" he asked, naked surprise in his voice.

The other shinobi nodded. "My team's formation was much debated about and there have been some overly interested parties making requests for irregular progress reports."

The younger shinobi's face darkened at 'interested parties'. "The man was always far too interested in anything Uchiha related."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "I have been a bit vigilant-"

"You mean paranoid," Tenzô snorted.

The silver haired shinobi mock-pouted at being interrupted. "As I was saying I have been keeping a look out for such interest, given Naruto is also on the team I expected plenty, but something … just isn't sitting right."

Tenzô rubbed his chin before asking, "Not enough?"

The older shinobi nodded. "Barely a peep out of the Village Council who so thoroughly fought against the boy becoming shinobi in the first place. All jônin team leaders are required to fill out progress reports on their teams weekly in the first month. I accidentally forgot to turn in a majority of them." That got another snort from the brown haired man who very much doubted that it was on accident. "After the third week of not filling out a report I was summoned before the Hokage and his advisers to give my report in person." Kakashi stopped his story here finishing off what was left of his second beer.

"And…"

"The Hokage wasn't present."

Tenzô frowned at this. "So it was just the two wind bags?"

Kakashi nodded. "They said the Hokage was seeing to another matter. I doubted it, but it was not my place to question them."

The brown-eyed man's eyebrows shot up before he chuckled bitterly. The Third's old teammates and now advisers were well respected among shinobi and civilians of Konoha alike and held quite a bit of power. Tenzô had very little respect for the two as they tended to agree one too many times with Danzô.

"What did you do?" Tenzo asked, half expecting Kakashi to have fed the two some odd story about how his students were busy helping old people down from trees and carrying groceries home for cats.

Kakashi clucked his tongue at the question. "Maa, so little faith. I behaved myself and answered all their questions to the best of my abilities."

"Oh, I'm sure you did," Tenzô chuckled. "Did they get anything intelligible out of you at all?"

The older man shrugged. "Their questions were more telling than my answers. Though Koharu was very much interested in Naruto's development, Homaru was much more interested in the last Uchiha."

"Homaru probably ran right back to Danzô with whatever tidbits of information you fed him," Tenzô concluded. The ANBU tapped the table as he thought. Homaru had always been sympathetic to Danzô despite Danzô's fall from grace after Orochimaru was chased out of the village. "Did you meet with the Third about this?" Tenzô questioned though he felt like he already knew the answer.

Kakashi merely gave him a look in response. "If Hokage-sama didn't know what had happened by the time I left the building he should resign from office." Tenzô brow furrowed over the slightly sharp tone Kakashi directed at their leader, but didn't say anything. The older shinobi shrugged. "I got told off by him today. Probably irritated that I gave the two vultures a reason to question me in person. He is very protective of Naruto."

The silver haired jônin took a moment to ruminate on how the Hokage would take his informing Naruto of his heritage. Not that he had directly told Naruto. The blonde might not even see what was there in front of him. Though Naruto had calmed considerably under his somewhat brutal tutelage and grown in his abilities, the genin was still excitable and easily overlooked things.

Tenzô sighed and rubbed his chin again. The whole Uzumaki Naruto problem had always flummoxed the calm ANBU. He didn't see the point in keeping the boy in the dark about the Fox or his parentage but he was certainly not the right person to call those shots. He had met Uzumaki Kushina a few times and was aware of her relationship with the Fourth as well as the result of that relationship. Wanting to turn the subject away from all things related to that piece of the past he quickly asked, "So did you get much grief for not turning in your reports?"

Kakashi answered. "They barely even berated me for not filling out the reports to begin with, but requested I return to give another oral report of my team's progress."

"Perhaps they have realized your allergy to ink," Tenzô said with a small smirk. The smirk quirked further as he asked, "Is this why you requested the mission in Takikawa?"

"It was more of a happy coincidence," Kakashi said, his mask hiding the mischievous grin that spread across his face at his plan working out so well. He was very much pleased that his wish to take his team out of the village also gave him a reason to not report to the advisers. "But while I am away I won't be able to keep an ear or an eye out-"

"Done, just leave me a scroll to call Pakkun when I have news." Tenzô answered, before Kakashi could even put words to his request. "It will be just like the old days. Now you owe me another couple of beers for this request." The bar had filled throughout their talk and Tenzô had to stand and make his way to the bar to place their order.

Kakashi felt a weight lift off of him. The way he had just abandoned his friendship with Tenzô had always been a regret of his and once again he was shown how his friends were much better people than he was.

Tenzô keeping an eye on things was also a relief.

The meeting had been a bit tenser than Kakashi had let on. Koharu was digging for gold. The old woman wanted a reason, any reason to have Naruto thrown out of the shinobi corps. Homaru had been rather aggressive in his questioning of Kakashi's methods with Sasuke's training and had threatened that if the last Uchiha didn't develop the sharingan by the end of the second month he would be removed form Kakashi's care.

It was a totally empty threat. Only the Hokage could approve such a thing and Kakashi knew that would never happen. Still, the threat showed just how much the esteemed elder and perhaps his friend cared about Sasuke's progress. It had been reckless to reveal this to Kakashi. Both advisers had grown complacent in their power and sway over the on goings of the shinobi corps in the jônin's opinion.

When Tenzô returned with their beers Kakashi took a healthy pull of his own. Something told him this next month would be nowhere near as peaceful as the last.

* * *

><p>The following morning, Kakashi made one last trip to the memorial stone before departing the village. He arrived in the familiar clearing and observed his student crouched in front of the memorial stone. The orange tracksuit was gone, replaced by nondescript dark green jacket and black pants. The ends of the pants were wrapped down similarly to his own. It wasn't even 5:30 yet. Surely the blonde should have been getting all the sleep he could before they left, or scrambling to pack.<p>

"You know I used to come here a lot after Iruka-sensei showed it to us." Naruto didn't turn around to face him. "I read the names over and over, looking for them." Kakashi tried very hard to ignore the quiver in his student's voice. Ah, Naruto had found out. The blonde stood up from his crouch clenching his fists. "No one ever told me they were shinobi. No one ever told me anything," he said with a bitter wet laugh. Kakashi flinched at the sound. The guilt that had grated on him for twelve years left him raw and exposed in the face of the indirect accusation. "Them being shinobi, it was something I made up. I wanted to imagine that they died protecting Konoha. But, I couldn't find them." A single hand waved towards the stone.

Kakashi's feet moved despite his will for them not to and he stepped up to stand behind Naruto on his left side.

"Then I thought they must have not been shinobi. So I went to the library and searched through civilian census records and nothing." Kakashi looked at the back of Naruto's messy blond head with new found respect. He didn't know the boy had even lifted a finger to try and find where he came from. Not a small amount of shame seeped into his chest. "I thought that maybe their friends didn't want anything to do with me because of… well, you know, so that was why no one came forward." The shame was growing. "But again. Nothing. The old man used to tell me that my parents loved me. That they died in the attack. That he didn't know them, but eventually I came to the only conclusion that made sense. He lied to me."

The anger and pain in Naruto's voice was vividly clear. The jônin wanted nothing more than to abandon the situation. He wasn't equipped for this and it was his fault. Because the truth was he failed. He had failed Minato and Kushina and no amount of alcohol or abuse of his body in training or on missions would erase that. No amount of training and attention towards Naruto now would make up for it.

"I thought the only thing he lied about was that my parents loved me. I thought they had just dropped me off at the orphanage and not looked back!" Naruto's voice cracked and he angrily rubbed his tears away.

"They both looked so happy in the pictures. They wanted me right sensei? They wanted me?" The boy was now sobbing, but trying to smother the sound with his fist, shoulders shaking.

Kakashi couldn't find his voice. All of the lies, all of the anger and Naruto just wanted to know if someone had wanted him. Kakashi raised a trembling hand and for a moment it hovered above the halo of blonde hair. He remembered all the times Minato had ruffled his hair as a child. He had always acted annoyed, but he wasn't. It was a gesture of affection. Something he had always denied he needed.

Taking in a shuddering breath Kakashi closed his hand and dropped it back to his side.

"Yes Naruto, they wanted you." Tear filled blue eyes looked up at him and Kakashi not the first time wished he could talk with Minato one last time. But then again the man would probably kill him and Kakashi wouldn't protest. "There was nothing that they wanted more than you." Naruto swallowed and struggled to regain control of his breathing. "I'm…"

I'm sorry you grew up thinking that no one wanted you.

I'm sorry you didn't even know their names.

I'm sorry for all the abuse you suffered.

I'm sorry for all the lies you were told.

I'm sorry I wasn't there for you.

I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough.

I'm sorry I'm still not strong enough.

"Will you tell me about them?" The question broke through the older man's thoughts.

Astonishment was swift and left Kakashi speechless. He had expected rage. He had expected shouting and maybe even a punch or two. Not this. Not this desperate need for acceptance. But why hadn't he?

Hadn't he craved the same when he was a child? Minato, Kushina, Rin, and Obito, they had given it to him without him realizing or asking for it.

But Kakashi had yet to do the same for Naruto.

Well, that was going to change.

"Yes Naruto. I will tell you about them."

Naruto nodded sharply and wiped furiously at his face till all trace of wetness was gone. But it didn't hide the puffiness or the irritated redness of his eyes. He turned back to the stone. "Why aren't their names here?"

It was a question that Kakashi had asked himself numerous times. Why weren't their names on the stone? He never quite got a straight answer from the Third. "Because there is a monument to the Fourth already, because no one was to know of Kushina's relation to you or to the Fourth. Because some people believe the past is better off left in the past in order to protect future generations from the sins of those who came before." His voice was dull and sarcastic to his own ears.

"You followed that example." The tone was biting and in Kakashi's opinion well deserved.

"I did." What excuse could he give his inaction? None. There was nothing that could excuse him. The Hokage had never forbade Kakashi from coming forward, in fact the man on more than one occasion suggested he become involved in Naruto's life. Kakashi ran as fast as he could, which was quite fast, in the opposite direction.

Naruto's mouth set in frustration. The tears were gone now anger having replaced them. "I, I'm so angry," the blonde admitted.

"I believe that is understandable," the older man said softly.

The bitter laughter that fell from the blonde's lips sounded out of place for the twelve year old. "I don't know who I am more angry at, the old man, or you. I started to trust you." Naruto looked up at him quickly and Kakashi could see the surprise the boy felt at letting these words slip.

Words that hurt more than Kakashi cared to contemplate. "Naruto-"

The genin cut him off sharply. "I just, I just need you to teach me and tell me about them. I don't want anything else from you." Before Kakashi could say another word the boy fled the clearing.

Kakashi tilted his head back and turned his face to the rising sun. He let its rays soak into the little skin showing on his face.

You deserved that. You deserved far more than that.

Feeling far older than he was Kakashi gently touched a few of the names on the stone and turned towards the training grounds where his genin would be gathered. It appeared he was going to be late.

Well, this was going to make the next two months a joy. He didn't regret giving Naruto the box though. The boy would be in almost constant contact with him. If there was any way to get past this, whatever this was, Takikawa was the perfect opportunity.

But it didn't change the fact he was terrified.

* * *

><p>Kakashi strode into the familiar grounds and wasn't surprised to see that Naruto wasn't the only one who had changed up his clothes.<p>

Sakura was kneeling on the ground surrounded by numerous scrolls that she no doubt wanted stored. The pink haired girl wore a long wheat-colored, shirt with three quarter length sleeves that was not quite tight, but not loose enough to be a liability. It was long enough to reach low on the girl's thighs and had slits on the sides for mobility. Over this she wore a tighter fitting quilted dark green vest. Her legs were clothed similarly to Naruto's, except she had swapped sandals for ankle boots.

"You're late," the girl tossed over her shoulder without turning around. Their chakra sensing abilities were coming along nicely Kakashi noted.

Sasuke who was sharpening his arsenal near the girl snorted quietly. Kakashi was happy to see the Uchiha fan nowhere on the boy's clothing. The black haired genin was wearing a simple long-sleeved black high-necked shirt with a short-sleeved dark green jacket over it. He had kept his stone colored shorts and sandals.

Naruto strode out from the storage shed with various practice weapons and moved towards his teammates. He purposely didn't acknowledge Kakashi's arrival and the jônin repressed a sigh.

Seeing the three of them dressed similarly tugged at something in him. He wondered if their matching color choice was on purpose or simply coincidence.

They looked like a team as they squabbled over what to take.

Kakashi interrupted them by imposing on their circle and clapping to get their attention. "Ok kids, how about we have a lesson in storage scrolls before we pack up and leave. So how does a storage scroll work?"

"Fûinjutsu," Sakura answered curtly.

Kakashi raised a single eyebrow at her.

Sakura continued, "The sealing array is written onto a scroll. Activating the seals with chakra allows the user to store or retrieve an object or objects of their choice."

"Very good, but can you tell me where the object goes?"

The girl frowned and threw a glance at the boys standing to her left. "Into the scroll?"

Kakashi tutted and gave her a somewhat condescending smile. "Still haven't figured out what the storage sealing array actually does have you? Much more complex than the average shinobi gives it credit for."

Naruto rolled his eyes and flat out glared at his teacher. "A storage sealing array creates a small pocket dimension."

"Correct," Kakashi cried exuberantly giving the boy an eye smile. "Which is why there are very few actually capable of writing these arrays and those that are, are paid very well for it."

"Can't they just be copied?" Sasuke asked glancing down at the unrolled storage scroll and not seeing how exactly it was complicated.

"If you wanted to rip a hole in space and time itself please go right ahead," Kakashi offered with a little 'as you will' wave. He had a moment's enjoyment from Sakura's alarmed face and Sasuke's attempt at hiding his alarm.

Naruto snorted, "That is exaggerating things a bit. No doubt the seal would simply fail."

Kakashi pursed his lips. He knew Naruto was pissed, but the boy really didn't have to ruin his fun. "True. You see an array must be written not only with precision, but the chakra applied to the seals as they are being written must be applied with even more accuracy."

Sakura frowned at this. "If that is the case, no offense Naruto, but how were you able to write your own explosive tags?"

Naruto shrugged to show he wasn't offended but looked thoughtful as well.

"I believe that Naruto while focusing so keenly on writing the seals correctly falls into a meditative state. It is much easier to focus chakra in such a state while in a calm environment without any pressure to perform." Kakashi had developed the theory after watching Naruto create a tag.

The blonde nodded, a light popping on behind his eyes. "It was always easier to practice jutsu after I had written a few tags. Plus, explosive tags, even modified ones aren't storage seals." The teacher nodded at his student's deduction. "But why the hell can't I meditate when I'm actually trying to?" Naruto cried angrily.

Kakashi coughed to cover his chuckle but was saved a reply by the Uchiha on the team plowing on.

"Is it really that difficult?" Sasuke asked looking very skeptical still.

Naruto nodded thinking about his own experience. "Following an array already created doesn't exactly take the sharpest kunai in the holster, but there is a certain finesse to it. Creating a unique array is another matter entirely. Think of the written seals as hand seals but there are few hundred of them and they all react to each other in certain ways. Their positioning in an array also changes their reactions. There is also a bit of mathematics to it as well. The array and the chakra a sealer infuses into it at the time it is written creates a pathway that the activator's chakra follows. It took me loads of tries to alter the basic explosion seal tag." Naruto winced at his last comment and rubbed a spot on his chest in memory.

Sakura blinked at Naruto in surprise. "Why exactly did you do so poorly in the Academy again?"

The blonde flushed and glared at his teammate for bringing up his poor academics. Mumbling incoherently under his breath Naruto snatched a storage scroll from the pile Kakashi had set out for them and began sealing up his goods.

Sasuke and Sakura shared a look before following the genin's example. Kakashi watched it all with his single eye. He was impressed that Naruto understood so much of the theory behind sealing. Though the boy was only able to write explosion tags currently but his ability to modify them was impressive.

Idly the jônin wondered if the knowledge that his father had been a genius at sealing techniques would encourage the boy to study the skill more. Kakashi himself wasn't a slouch when it came to fûinjutsu, but having someone else on the team who was capable of even mediocre fûinjutsu would be useful.

Once they were ready and had redistributed the packs so the weight and goods were evenly spread out Kakashi led them out of the village. As soon as they hit a fork in the road Kakashi turned back to his team who had been following him quietly, chatting amongst themselves.

Naruto's bad mood lifted as soon as they left the village, but he quickly announced his disappointment at there being nothing but trees since they exited the village.

"Now, if we continue on foot at this pace it will take us nearly two weeks to get Takikawa. I want to push hard and fast and reach the city in three days. The pace will be more than normal genin should be able to maintain, but I think you lot can handle it." The three exchanged determined, and bland in one case, looks.

Sakura nodded, jaw set. "We can handle it sensei."

"Piece of cake," Naruto said with a determined grin.

"Good we will be cutting through some rougher terrain in order to save more time. Be careful and keep alert. You are no longer within the walls of the village." His voice darkened as he gave his warning.

Turning towards the east, the jônin pushed off from the ground hard and flew into the trees. His three pupils shadowed him.

He didn't go lightly on them. The pace he set was more akin to evacuating enemy territory than traveling through non-hostile country on route to a non-time sensitive mission. In fact, he intended for them to be absolutely exhausted by the end of the first day. It was risk given that it would leave them exposed if they were caught by an enemy, but Kakashi believed he was in good enough shape to take care of just about anything they came across.

At the height of noon he stopped near a stream for water and a snack. The children didn't speak as they took out their canteens, refilled water and ripped into calorie bars with gusto.

Once they had finished refueling the three removed their outer layers and stuffed them into their packs. Without a word they all looked to him for the direction to continue.

Stuffing away the wrapper of his own piece of cardboard that was passed off as food he threw himself back into the trees. While running Kakashi blocked out all thoughts, keeping his senses alive to his surroundings. The silver haired shinobi could not be distracted by thoughts while his team was exposed for the first time.

When it was time to stop for the night, Sakura's legs were shaking so badly she could barely stand, Sasuke was winded and seemed to be holding himself up through sheer will power alone, and Naruto was huffing and holding his side. They found a small inlet in a cliff face that was partially hidden.

They had yet to see a soul on the journey since they left the main road, which pleased Kakashi.

"It's quite warm and there is only a very small chance for rain tonight," Kakashi spoke as he sniffed the air. "No need to waste time or energy on the tents." There were a couple sighs of relief as the three unpacked their bedrolls and prepared for the night.

The jônin began to look through the food rations. They were still in the heart of Fire Country and there were no towns for a good fifty miles in any direction. They could risk a fire to actually cook somewhat decent food.

Sakura approaching him with a small bento interrupted his thoughts. "Sensei, my mom wanted to do something for me, for the mission, so she made everyone a meal for tonight."

Kakashi blinked slowly at the food before taking it with a genuine smile. "Thank you Sakura." Not having to cook the first night would allow them to get a good chunk of rest and be fit for the next leg of their journey tomorrow. The three genin sat off a little ways from him talking amongst themselves, while Naruto and Sakura talked, Sasuke just ate, listening to his teammates chatter with one ear.

It was a scene almost familiar but yet not the same. He remembered his own team camping out during missions. Looking at his three students, he couldn't help but compare himself to Minato.

His teacher would have been there with them, chatting, teasing, and sharing stories of his own time as a genin.

But he wasn't Minato. He would never be Minato.

* * *

><p>Team 7 pushed hard and fast through their journey. It was exhausting but the genin were used to such conditions and bore it without complaint. They arrived in the city earlier than expected and Naruto felt all the more happy for it.<p>

Naruto had questioned Sakura on a few more details about the city during their journey. He learned that the city was the central location of export for smaller mining communities located in the surrounding area.

It was thrilling in a city so much bigger than Konoha. Built down river of a waterfall and close to the ocean shore, Takikawa was split into two banks. The river was heavy with boat traffic as they came into the heart of the city from the ocean. The sights and smells of the bustling market place were nearly overwhelming.

The buildings were taller than those in Konohagakure and more tightly packed together. There were men on horses shouting for the pedestrians to clear a path. Carts carrying various goods were pulled down the streets and stopped beside various stands and shops. People shouted their prices from every direction.

It was all bit overwhelming.

Naruto felt like he was being swallowed up by it all as he was jostled from side to side as he followed Sakura, who followed Sasuke, who followed…

The run here burned off all his anger. The betrayal still stung though. He trusted Kakashi-sensei. Even liked the older man. He had thought that Kakashi-sensei had cared somewhat about him.

And the confusing part was now he was sure Kakashi did care.

One of the few things he knew about the jônin was the man did nothing without reason. Every move was planned, every word spoken carefully selected. Naruto knew that Kakashi knew that the album had been in the box. The man wanted Naruto to find out about his parents, but what stung was that Kakashi had waited so long.

Why hadn't he just told him?

A burly man carrying a crate collided with a woman who fell into Naruto. The genin's reflexes kicked in and he caught her easily. "Alright there?"

The blonde smiled at the woman as he righted her. She was probably in her early twenties her. "I'm so sorry for bumping into you like that," she said as she took in her rescuer.

"It wasn't your fault," Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of his head. She was rather pretty.

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice called through the crowd. His teammate had already been absorbed into the crush of people and Naruto barely caught a glimpse of pink and green through the forest of bodies.

"You sure you're ok? That wasn't a gentle bump."

The woman smiled. "Yes, the fall would have hurt much more." The woman's dark brown eyes took in his hitai-ate and widened in surprise. "You're shinobi?"

"Yep," the affirmed popping the 'P'. He proudly adjusted his hitai-ate proudly.

The brown-eyed woman opened her mouth again, but then Sakura was beside them. "Naruto come on. They're waiting on us."

Naruto flashed a toothy smile at the woman and then followed his teammate through the crowd. They caught up with Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei and continued on.

The ocean of people thinned as they walked further. Naruto could tell they were headed out of town as the buildings came to have more and more space between them and the smell of the city began to dissipate.

They crossed over another smaller bridge that passed over a calmer offshoot of the river. The buildings became older, showing their age not only in their architecture but their condition as well. Paint was peeling, weeds overran many of the gardens, and the walls surrounding the properties were in general disrepair. A few buildings were even beyond hope and only partially standing.

There were a smattering of restaurants and small shops dotted here and there, but Naruto could see they were definitely in a district that had seen better days. Kakashi came to a stop in front of a temple that was in just as poor condition as the buildings surrounding it.

The blonde raised an eyebrow. Kakashi definitely did not strike him as a religious person.

"Well, say hello to your home for the next couple of months," the jônin said, looking expectantly at his students.

Sakura's jaw dropped and Sasuke actually looked worried.

"You're joking," the blonde genin accused.

Their teacher merely raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

Naruto glared at the man for playing with them. "The outpost is a temple?"

"Oh, no," Kakashi chuckled, gesturing across the way to what had been either a large house or a small inn. 'What had been' being key, as in past tense. It was in rough shape. The stone wall that surrounded the property was either overtaken by ivy or crumbling. The grounds were overgrown and in desperate need of taming. Worst of all, roof over a portion of the right wing was collapsed inward. The entire building needed a lot of TLC.

Beside Naruto, Sakura closed her mouth and swallowed. "Some how that is so much worse." Both her teammates nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Right, well, I am going to the city hall to announce our arrival and secure any permits we will need for the reconstruction." The Copy-nin began to head back towards town. "Settle in and have a look around, but don't wander back into the city. I expect to see some headway in the clean up by the time I get back." If the man could feel the three hateful glares that watched him stroll down the street he didn't acknowledge it.

"Sometimes I would really like to hit him," Sakura sighed, sounding almost wistful. Naruto could empathize with that. He was tired, sore and no doubt smelled from the journey and he was sure his teammates felt the same.

"Let's get to it, he's gonna be an ass if he gets back and we haven't accomplished whatever goal he set and failed to mention," Naruto said through his teeth. Sakura let only whimper escape her while Sasuke exhaled loudly.

Together they waded through the overgrown yard, a stone path somewhere underneath their feet. Naruto moved to open the door to the entranceway, but instead of sliding open the door creaked and began to tip towards him.

"Woah!" Naruto exclaimed, back peddling to get out of the way as the door fell to the ground, buoyed by the greenery beneath it.

"Fantastic a bridge!" Sakura bit out sarcastically as she stepped onto the door and into the entrance-way of the outpost. Sasuke followed her in with a look of foreboding on his normally passive face.

Sighing Naruto followed his teammates inside to whatever awaited them.

It wasn't nearly as bad as he expected. Team 7's exploration took little over ten minutes. Under Sakura's direction the team took note of all the things that would need to be addressed other than just a thorough cleaning in each room.

The plumbing in the kitchen and two bathrooms would need to be replaced. The section of roof that was collapsed was over what appeared to be the main sleeping area from the rope bunk beds that were underneath the rubble of the ceiling.

A closet space off the kitchen seemed to house old medical supplies, Sakura made a quick note to go though and see if any of it was salvageable.

The office area of the outpost was in good condition, but under a layer of dust.

Nearly all the windows were damaged in some way or another, either the sills were rotten or the glass was shattered. There was also an assortment of furniture that needed some maintenance in order to bring it back to working condition.

Other than the collapsed roof there was no other structural damage that the genin could find, but Naruto pointed out that none of them knew shit about carpentry and the damn building could collapse at any second for all they knew.

Once their list was compiled Sakura sketched out a to do list based on difficulty of the task.

"How are we supposed to repair a roof?" Naruto cried exasperated.

"Maybe Kakashi-sensei knows something about construction," Sakura said, but she didn't sound as if she actually believed it. Naruto snorted and flinched when Sasuke had the exact same response. The two locked eyes, obviously deeply disturbed they had, had the same reaction. Sakura hid a grin behind her hand. "Well let's sort out a room that we can sleep in for the night and then get started on cleaning out what's unusable."

With their task for the moment clear, Team 7 began to efficiently take care of business. It was strange to be doing something other than training with the others, Naruto thought, but after spending so much time together they fell into a rhythm quickly enough. Without much discussion they all took on roles that best suited each of them while complementing each other.

Their work went undisturbed as they transitioned from clearing out and cleaning a smaller room suited to their current sleeping needs to removing debris. Naruto suggested they use the broken door to press down a portion of the wilderness that was the yard so they could begin piling the garbage into a central location.

As they worked Naruto's thoughts drifted to the man and woman who were his parents, the Fourth Hokage and a beautiful woman named Kushina. The man who was his father had also sealed a demon inside him.

How was he supposed to feel about that?

On one hand it was awesome that he was the son of Fourth. The Fourth had been super strong and from what Naruto knew of him he had been a good leader, a leader who had made the ultimate sacrifice. Naruto just wasn't so sure how he felt about being part of that sacrifice.

But it seemed petty to be angry at a dead man, especially a dead man who was his father, who from all appearances in the pictures seemed so very happy at being a father.

A selfish part of Naruto wanted to scream why him though. Why couldn't the Fourth have chosen another child? But at the same time the genin could understand why the Fourth couldn't ask that of another parent.

The thoughts spun round and round Naruto's head until he couldn't think about it anymore.

A few hours into their clean up effort the sun began to set and Naruto stretched out his back and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Where the hell is Kakashi-sensei?!" Naruto complained to Sakura who had just finished dumping a load of rotten wood on the pile of junk. "I'm starving, if I don't eat soon my stomach is going to cave in on itself," he whined.

Naruto was thrown off balance as Sasuke unceremoniously shoved him to the side so he could drop off his own load. "We're all hungry idiot. There's no need to assault our ears and make it worse."

The blonde glared at his teammate and wanted to snap back but was interrupted by Sakura's shrill voice "Yes, we're all tired and hungry and we smell freaking terrible and our pervert of a sensei is probably off perusing the porn section of some bookstore and left us here with all this work!" The two boys watched as Sakura's face turned red in her anger, which Naruto would never say but made for a very unattractive look with her hair. Sakura continued to rant as she stomped back into the house. He only caught a few words but the theme was clear and it involved very sharp kunai and a very sensitive part of the male anatomy.

"We really have to teach her it isn't cool to make threats like that," Naruto mused and Sasuke solemnly nodded alongside him.

"Make threats like what?" A voice from behind them asked.

"Gah!" Naruto cried as he stumbled forward and nearly fell into the pile of wood and shingles and most importantly exposed, rusty nails. Sasuke whirled around kunai in hand. "You!" Naruto spluttered after he had righted himself.

"Me?" his sensei answered as if it were a question. "Maaa, you must be tired. You didn't even sense me arriving. How disappointing. Looks like you need to work harder at that skill and staying always aware of your surroundings," the teacher tutted, bring a finger to his mouth in a thoughtful gesture.

"Work harder?!" Naruto exclaimed, "I'll show you hard work you perverted-"

"Now, now there is need for such slanderous language."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and scoffed. "It's not slander if it's true."

Kakashi could not fault this statement but waved it away. "Now, now I too have been busy."

"Really?" asked a skeptical voice and all three male shinobi turned to look at the only kunoichi on the team. Sakura's face was set in a harsh glower as she met her teacher's single eye. Violent chakra emanated from the girl and both Naruto and Sasuke took a step away from the target.

"Now, now, there is no need for hostility. Look I brought food." From behind his back, Kakashi brought a bag of take out boxes into view. The irate girl stalked forward, grabbed the peace offering and snapped at the rest of the team to follow.

The smell of food that wafted towards Naruto while this transaction happened drove all other complaints from his brain and he quickly chased after his female teammate. Berating their teacher could wait.

* * *

><p>"Why exactly are we here?" Sasuke asked bluntly.<p>

Team 7 had eaten ferociously, decimating all of the food that Kakashi had brought them. Sasuke was sitting cross-legged in-between Naruto who had unrolled his sleeping pad and flopped down onto his side, and Sakura who was rifling through her pack for her bathing goods.

Kakashi who was sitting across from his team, had explained what he had been up to all day while his students worked. The jônin had secured the permits that had been requested by the Hokage's office and been around to several construction contractors. A few that Kakashi had spoken to would be by tomorrow to give their quote on the work that needed to be done. He had also opened accounts for power, water and gas for the building.

The report of his day didn't mollify the three genin completely but there wasn't much they could do to complain. Sakura and Naruto looked outwardly relieved when Kakashi had told them that professionals would be hired for the large fixes the outpost required.

Sasuke was more preoccupied with why they were even here in the first place. He had hypothesized all throughout the journey possible reasons for why Kakashi was so intent on them taking this assignment. In the excitement to leave the village and the mess that awaited them both his teammates seemed to forget that their teacher owed them an explanation.

This time the last Uchiha would not settle for a half-truth or a riddle. If he was going to waste the next few days on cleaning and repairing this wreck he was going to damn well understand why.

For a moment Kakashi gazed at his student. Sasuke could tell the man was carefully deciding how straightforward his answer would be.

"There are several reasons why I cannot be completely transparent in my explanation. You are going to have to accept that." Their teacher's voice had taken on its serious tone that he adopted when he didn't want to be questioned.

Sasuke fought down the flash of anger at this answer, determined to not let it show on his face. Naruto had no such qualms at letting his displeasure be known. The boy scoffed, mumbling something that Sasuke couldn't quite catch and plainly glared at the man.

It was not the first time Sasuke had seen Naruto glare at Kakashi since the mission began. He had watched the blonde stare daggers at Kakashi's back on and off throughout the run to Takikawa. There was something off between the two, but Sasuke had chalked it up to Naruto being emotional.

But, now before his eyes Kakashi reacted in the most surprising way to Naruto's mumbled outburst. The silver haired man's right eye twitched. It was a the tiniest of twitches but it was the second largest involuntary reaction he had seen from his teacher other than the flash of irritation at the Hokage's office.

It was a flinch. As if whatever Naruto had said had actually hurt the stoic man in some way. The idea, that Naruto of all people, could get such a reaction from Kakashi was mind boggling, but Sasuke couldn't see another explanation. It was truly curious.

Something more was going on between the two than he had originally thought. Now, however was not the time to get to the bottom of it.

"What can you tell us sensei?" Sakura asked, not hiding her disappointed sigh.

"There are some high ranking officials in the shinobi council who are a little too curious about this team's progress," Kakashi answered dully as if the whole situation bored him.

Sasuke couldn't help the frown from curving his mouth. Beside him Sakura looked confused, either about why there would be people interested in their team or why this made Kakashi feel it was necessary to leave Konoha Sasuke didn't know. The black haired boy was far more interested in why Naruto seemed to be torn between worry and anger.

Naruto knew something. But what? And why? Surely these officials were interested in Sasuke himself. The reason behind their interest was rather obvious. Why wouldn't they be interested in the last Uchiha? He was the only hope of the sharingan bloodline continuing in Konoha.

But if this was the reason for their interest why was Naruto reacting so strongly?

"Why would they be interested in our team…? Sakura trailed off as she voiced the question, but then glanced toward Sasuke as if he was the answer.

"There are several reason's why this team is of interest. One reason I can explain is the Hokage legacy."

All three genin leaned forward unconsciously at this.

"What legacy?" Naruto asked quickly, with an edge of anxiety in his voice.

Kakashi rubbed his head and sat back leaning into his hads for support. "The Third Hokage was taught by the Second as a genin. A student of the Third taught the Fourth. I am the only surviving student of the Fourth."

This revelation was a bit of a shock to Sasuke and based on the gob smacked look on Sakura's face it was clear that not even she of the Research knew this particular piece of information. Naruto on the other hand…

Sasuke was starting to get irritated with the blonde. He was becoming distractingly interesting. Naruto had known. Sasuke was sure of it. The blonde had shut up about his goal of becoming Hokage in the first week of training as Team 7, but his reaction to the news that their teacher had been taught by a Hokage should have been much, much louder and more annoying.

Naruto had known.

Kakashi continued, "The trend follows that one of you will be the next Hokage." The notion sounded absolutely ridiculous to Sasuke and it was obvious the entire reason was just a smoke screen to cover up something else.

Sakura shook her head in disbelief, "Or you sensei."

The man chuckled, "No one in their right mind would make me Hokage."

The genin of Team 7 certainly agreed with that statement, though none of them voiced it.

"I think that's enough for tonight. We have a long day tomorrow and the bathhouse will close soon. Get your stuff together." With that their teacher picked up his own bag and exited the room.

The three genin sat unmoving for a few moments.

Sakura sighed as she came to her feet. "Well, we got one reason out of him. Even if it was a rather unbelievable one."

"You knew," Sasuke accused. Naruto was turned away from him, reaching for his own pack. Sakura stopped at the doorway and looked back. "You knew that Kakashi was a student of the Fourth." Naruto turned to meet Saskue's gaze before looking down at his empty hands.

"Naruto…?" Sakura questioned.

"I, I knew," Naruto confirmed.

Sakura shuffled her feet and appeared to try and not be irritated by this news. "Why didn't you say anything? The man is still a mystery to all of us."

The blonde looked conflicted. "I didn't know how to explain how I found out, I-" He cut himself off and let out a frustrated breath. "There is a lot you guys don't know about me."

Sasuke glared at the non-answer. He had, had quite enough of those already. "Then tell us," the black haired genin demanded.

Sakura made a choked noise at her teammate's tactless order that was just so Sasuke.

Naruto sneered at the command, "Why the hell should I?"

Sasuke was about to retort, but Sakura stepped forward and kneeled to be on their level. "Because we are a team and…" Sakura hesitated, "We're friends." The final word seemed to strike Naruto dumb.

Friends.

They were friends.

Part of Sasuke revolted at the word, claiming he didn't need friends. Teammates were all that he had planned on letting the other two become. Friends were for people who didn't have a clan to avenge.

Sakura was talking again and her voice interrupted his inner struggle. "I noticed when we were buying clothes that Sato was horrible to you and only you. The teachers at the Academy were completely unprofessional and downright mean to you. Well, other than Iruka-sensei. Most of the kids were mean too." Sakura wrung her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry. When I first started the Academy I was picked on, but Ino stood up for me. Instead of standing up for you I helped the other kids bully you."

"Sakura…" Naruto said softly.

"I have wanted to ask why for a while, but I never did, because I didn't feel like you owed me an explanation, I still don't, but I want to know now. I want to understand because it pisses me off that people treat my friend so poorly." Sasuke couldn't help but nod with what the girl was saying. In the Academy he had ignored the bullying for the most part because it didn't concern him and because… _he_ had told Sasuke not to bully Naruto.

Sasuke remembered that day. Itachi had come like he always did when he was home to pick Sasuke up from the Academy. Naruto was being heckled by some civilian children outside near where Sasuke was and Itachi had very quickly put a stop to it.

While walking home Sasuke asked his brother why the other children were so mean to Naruto. The younger boy had already formed the opinion that the blonde was annoying and loud and an idiot, but didn't quite understand why the other children picked on him so much. Itachi had stopped walking, turned around and kneeled in front of his brother. _"People are ruled by fear. It poisons all their actions. Never let fear control you. That boy does more for this village by simply breathing than most shinobi accomplish in a lifetime. Those children's parents have forgotten that. Do not follow their example."_

As a child Sasuke had simply nodded, not understanding his brother's cryptic words. The words were no longer unintelligible.

But why did the village fear Naruto?

"I'm afraid," Naruto admitted. Sakura's face fell at this admission. "I'm afraid if you know, you won't-," Naruto angrily rubbed at his eyes and Sasuke tried not to show his revulsion at the other boy's tears. "You won't want to be anywhere near me once you know."

"Idiot." That stopped the blonde's eyes from leaking as he glared at Sasuke. "We haven't put up with your presence 24/7 for a month just to turn on you. I didn't give up on your weak, worthless ass in the beginning. Don't insult me by thinking I will now that you are finally a decent teammate."

Naruto's mouth fell open and Sakura was stunned for a moment before she chuckled and added, "Yeah, we're not some random people. We're teammates, friends and together we have so-far survived the nightmare that is Hatake Kakashi."

Their blonde friend stared at them both swallowing and setting his chin. "Ok, I don't know everything but here goes." Sasuke and Sakura watched as he twisted to grab his pack and pulled a small photo album out and flipped through the pages before showing them.

"This is Kakashi-sensei's genin team." The other two genin leaned forward to look at the picture of Kakashi with two other genin and a jônin they both quickly recognized as the Fourth Hokage. Sasuke noticed that the other boy in the picture was definitely an Uchiha though he didn't recognize him. The boy who had given Kakashi his sharingan eye had a dopey smile on his face that was certainly out of place on an Uchiha.

Naruto flipped through a couple more pictures of the team before he got to a picture of the Fourth and a red haired woman. The blonde man had his arm thrown around the woman and their proximity in the photo obviously showed that they were a couple.

"How did you get this album Naruto?" Sakura asked as she took in the photograph.

"It was in a box of fûinjutsu scrolls that Kakashi gave me the night before we left Konoha," the blonde explained as he turned the book around to flip to another picture of the Fourth and the red haired woman who was now pregnant.

"Why did he give it-?" the pink haired girl questioned before she snatched the book from Naruto to get a closer look at the picture. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed.

It was surprising Sasuke thought. He had never heard of the Fourth having a family but he wasn't sure why Sakura was so excited.

Naruto took back the book and flipped to the end, removing the last picture before presenting it to them. Sasuke didn't see the point of this as he took in the subject of the last photo.

It was the red haired woman again. She had Kakashi's hand pressed to her stomach forcefully and their teacher looked remarkably uncomfortable. Naruto turned the photo over and everything started to make sense.

Sasuke wanted to hit himself for not recognizing the resemblance. The other boy was the spitting image of the Fourth but it didn't click until the connection was glaring right there in front of his dark eyes.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered in awe.

"Yeah, was a bit of a shock for me."

"Why, why the hell doesn't anybody know this?!" Sakura nearly yelled.

Naruto took a breath before beginning to shock his two teammates even further. "Because things are even more complicated than me being the son of a village hero. You see we were lied to our entire lives about the Fourth. They told us that he killed the Kyûbi. He didn't."

Sakura looked like she wanted to object to what Naruto was saying but stopped short, no doubt coming to the same conclusion as Sasuke. The Fourth's wife and child had been kept secret, a pretty big deal and highly irregular as the families of past Hokage's were treated with great respect in the village.

"Then what happened to the Fox?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked at them both anxiously before answering. "He sealed it. He sealed it inside of me.

"_People are ruled by fear."_

"_It poisons all their actions." _

"_That boy does more for this village by simply breathing than most shinobi accomplish in a lifetime."_

For the first time since he was six years old Sasuke found himself in agreement with his brother.

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat outside the room leaning against the wall and covered by an illusion.<p>

Three down.

Sakura had found her motivation. Sasuke had accepted his teammates. And now Naruto had chosen to trust.

A small smile was hidden behind the ever-present mask.

There was still work to be done, but it was a damn fine start.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry for the wait on this chapter. Life happened and I ended up in the hospital and had to have surgery.

Ok I have a secret to tell. I haven't read all of Naruto, like not even close to all of it. Therefore a lot of what I write may be AU. I don't actually know if Kakashi was aware of the reasons behind the Uchiha massacre. Mine doesn't. I don't really know how close Kakashi was to Itachi but I love non-massacre stories that feature them having a pretty tight relationship. In this story they had more of a working relationship but Kakashi did care about Itachi as he was a team member of his at one point.

My point is I'm not going to follow canon to the letter, it was never my intention to give that impression, but neither am I going to ignore it completely. I might make changes through ignorance or just because I really didn't like the direction canon went with certain characters or events.

This includes rules and laws about chakra and jutsu. I do my utmost to read everything I can on the theory behind a lot of jutsu and why it works the way it does, but I find a lot of the explanation offered by canon is lacking. Therefore I make up my own.

**Kleio96**: Ok you are not hacking my computer. I was suspicious. This Kakashi is extremely calculating, especially when it comes to his team. He does almost nothing regarding them without purpose. Which also makes him distant because he doesn't allow himself to relax around them. Giving Naruto the album was a way to tell Naruto passively about his parents, because Kakashi just isn't good with his words. If I was a better and more patient writer I would have let Naruto look through the album but not turn over the picture and maybe finally discover it a month later. I am not patient and my writing isn't that great so immediate gratification is always good.

**Enbi**: I am glad you are liking where I am going with Sasuke's and Sakura's characters so far. Hopefully I did justice to Naruto in this chapter but I don't think I will ever nail him completely.

**Ann**: Edited. I found them. So turns out I didn't read far enough into the manga... Sorry! I wanted her to be a civilian so even if I had known about them I might have changed it. They won't play a huge role past a certain point so I hope it doesn't stop you from reading!

**XJackiefrostX**: I feel your pain.

A big thanks to everyone who reviewed. This isn't the chapter you deserve and I'm sorry. My unavoidable break from this fic kind of threw me off. Your reviews really helped cheer me up during my stay in the hospital so thank you so much for that.

Please let me know what you think of this chapter! Also I promise the next update will come faster than a month!

I watched the shit out of the Lord of the Rings movies while I was in the hospital cause those are my sick movies. I couldn't help but imagine my Team 7 in that world and actually wrote a bit on a whim. Made me think how you never see kid versions of Team 7 in an lotr crossover. Or at least I couldn't find one really. If you know of one please share!


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